Dawn & Spike: Timeless Book 2 The Demonic War
by The Bard2
Summary: Following a surprise visitor from the past, Dawn becomes an angel and begins fighting the forces of darkness alongside some old friends and some new ones... (Sequal to Dawn & Spike: Timeless (Book 1 - To the Future))
1. Chapter 1 The Recruiting of Spike

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 1: The Recruiting of Spike  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
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Timeless: The Demonic War - I: The Recruiting of Spike  
  
"Let's go, I want to go and save Spike." Dawn said leading the way into the portal, which closed behind them.  
  
The other side of the portal was completely different to any that Dawn had experienced before. It was like being pulled in every direction at once while at the same time every molecule in her body was being pushed into one place.  
  
"Dawn!" cried Buffy, "Concentrate on Spike, think of him dieing!"  
  
Dawn heard what she said but she couldn't understand the words, it was as if Buffy were speaking a language she didn't know, and there weren't many of those.  
  
She managed to spin herself round so she could see her sister, and suddenly an understanding dawned on her, she knew exactly what to do.  
  
She focused her thoughts on Spike, on the way his body felt against hers and the way he smelled, the way he touched her, the way he kissed her and the way he made love to her. The fluctuating landscape around them wavered and bent until it was stable and the three could walk as easily as if they were in a dimension, they weren't in a dimension, they were in between.  
  
In front of them was a door, a plain wooden door, the paint was even curling off the top left corner. Dawn strode forward and opened it with such force that it almost came off it's hinges.  
  
Through the door the trio could see two figures fighting, one in a long leather coat with platinum hair, the other a vibrant redhead with a purple sweater.  
  
"Stop time, Dawn." Buffy told her.  
  
"How?" Dawn asked before she realised that she already knew the answer.  
  
She strode forward and time slowed to a crawl.  
  
"My god, it took me months to learn how to do that." Joseph said in amazement.  
  
"Yea well, I'm not normal, remember?" Dawn said as she stopped in front of the man in the long coat, "Oh Spike."  
  
"You really want to recruit a vampire?" Joseph asked.  
  
"Yes, how do I do it?" Dawn asked.  
  
"You release him from the time freeze and then we find out if he wants to join." Buffy said looking at Spike.  
  
For a split second Dawn wondered how to do what Buffy had said, suddenly she realised that she knew. At a though from Dawn, Spike's head moved, but the rest of him didn't.  
  
"Wha.?" Spike said shaking his head, "Dawn? Is that you?"  
  
"Yes Spike, Do you remember when Buffy and Joseph came to us in 4525?" Dawn asked him.  
  
"Yea, Buff needed to talk to you, what happened to you anyway?" Spike looked confused.  
  
"Time's changed, I changed." Dawn said with a smile, "I'm here to offer you a chance to help us fight evil."  
  
"Fight evil?" Spike said even more confused.  
  
"Do you remember when we recovered Buffy from the dimensional portal?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Yes." Spike nodded.  
  
"We want you to join the Angel Legions and help us fight the forces of darkness." Buffy said.  
  
"Could I be killed?" Spike asked, he looked like he was going to say yes, eventually.  
  
"You couldn't be killed by a stake but you could if you were decapitated, that is the only way to kill any of us." Joseph answered.  
  
"You got a deal." Spike said.  
  
"We now have to move time forward a few seconds then we remove you from time and replace you with a duplicate." Joseph said turning to face the area where the portal opened, he said something in an ancient demon language and the portal opened and spat out a figure that looked identical to Spike.  
  
Around them time sped up and Spike flew at the woman, who was in fact the current slayer, she drew stake from her coat and was thrusting it at Spike's heart when the angels stopped time and exchanged Spike with the duplicate.  
  
"Come Spike." Dawn said with a smile holding out her hand to her lover. Spike took it and she led the gang towards the portal, and as the portal closed, time resumed it's normal course and Spike's duplicate flew into the stake from the slayer and turned to dust.  
  
The space in between dimensions was more stable this time and they were able to walk normally. Buffy and Joseph had taken the lead as they knew the way, but Buffy suspected that Dawn and Spike would have a few things to talk about.  
  
"What happened to you Dawn?" Spike asked, he still looked the same as he usually did.  
  
"When I was inducted into the army of angels, the power within me modified my body up to it's peak form and it gave me the knowledge to fully control my powers." Dawn told him, "We then used my powers to move us through time and we recruited you."  
  
"So where are we going now?" Spike said looking around at the swirling interdimensional space.  
  
"To meet with the Angel Directorship." Dawn said, "They are the warlords who organise the fight against evil."  
  
"They now have one of us." the prognosticating demon told Lucifer.  
  
"Spike." came Lucifer's growl.  
  
"Yes." answered the first demon, whose name was Rush'ak.  
  
"Spike was meant to destroy the Key." the third demon said, his name was Duv'niknik.  
  
"Instead he fell in love with it." the second demon said, her name was Fer'gevak.  
  
"We need new recruits, if we are to even survive this war." the prognosticating demon, whose name was Gabnick.  
  
"FIND SOME!" Lucifer roared.  
  
"From where, Morning Star?" Rush'ak asked.  
  
"From my dimension." Lucifer said, "Go use my access, find Loki, he will help you."  
  
"Loki?" Fer'gevak asked with a scared tone.  
  
"The Demon of Death?" Gabnick gasped.  
  
"Yes." Lucifer said.  
  
"But, my liege." Duv'niknik said getting to his knee and bowing his head.  
  
"ENOUGH! I will not discuss my plans you will do as I say, now GO!" Lucifer's voice resonated and made the heads of the gathered demons ring.  
  
"Honoured members of the Angel Directorship, may we present." Buffy began.  
  
"Spike, the vampire and Dawn, the Key." The head angel said standing up.  
  
They were gathered in a huge banquet hall, the main table was covered in maps and sheets of figures. There was another smaller table at the end of the room seated at it were seven figures all dressed in pure white, three were female four were male.  
  
"Honoured Michael, you are correct, we finally have the forces to turn the tide of this war." Joseph said.  
  
"The forces of light can never defeat the forces of darkness, they will always do battle, for without one the other cannot exist." this came from a figure standing behind the secondary table, the man who said it had no eyes, a birth defect, but this meant that he was a born seer, he was the most powerful seer in history, Oracle.  
  
"My apologies Oracle, I meant no disrespect." Joseph said.  
  
"Now that we have the necessary resources we can begin to wage the war instead of just defending ourselves." This from the woman to Michael's left.  
  
"Mary, you are thinking ahead of yourself." Michael said with a frown.  
  
"I think only as far ahead as you my brother." Mary answered.  
  
"Yes quite." Michael said with a smile.  
  
"We have more important matters to discuss." said the man at the end of the table.  
  
"Jeffery, you must learn to await your turn to speak." Michael said, "I will give you leave this time as you are still new to this war council."  
  
"My humblest apologies, Michael."  
  
"Dawn, now that you have joined us we have a gift for you." Mary said coming round the table and approaching Dawn.  
  
"You're going to give it to her aren't you?" Joseph asked.  
  
"It was made to be used and so far none of us can." Michael said.  
  
"But how do you know she can?" Joseph asked.  
  
"Because she must." Mary said as she walked over to a chest at the foot of the main table.  
  
When she reached it she bent down and released the latch, she gently opened the lid sowing the contents to Dawn.  
  
"Dawn the Angel Directorship would like to present you with . " Michael began.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	2. Chapter 2 The Slayers Blade

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 2: The Slayers Blade  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
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Timeless: The Demonic War - II: The Slayers Blade  
  
"Dawn the Angel Directorship would like to present you with the Slayers Blade." Michael said.  
  
In the chest was a sword it's blade was blood red and it's handle was a pure gold color. It was about three and a half feet long with precious jewels embedded in the handle. Beside it lay a scabbard, it was also a blood red color and was encrusted with jewels.  
  
"The Slayers Blade?" Dawn said in awe.  
  
"Forged by Sineya, herself, in the time before Earth." Michael said with a touch of pride.  
  
"Before Earth?" Spike asked.  
  
"Before humanity gained a purchase on that dimension, before the demons lost theirs." Mary said.  
  
"But it is called the Slayers Blade, should not the slayer wield it?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Yes, but none of the slayers we have in the army can, the sword rejects them." Michael said.  
  
"It is waiting." Oracle said, he had come forward, so he was standing between the small group around the chest and the rest of the Angel Directorship.  
  
"Waiting for what?" Spike asked.  
  
"Waiting for it's owner." Oracle said.  
  
"For me?" Dawn asked in amazement.  
  
"I believe so, try to pick it up." Michael said.  
  
Dawn knelt on one knee and placed her hand on the sword's hilt, it felt slightly warm and a spark arced between it and Dawn's hand, but not to push her away but to pull her into it.  
  
She lifted the sword out of it's case and suddenly the blade glowed brightly.  
  
"She is the one." Oracle said in an awed voice.  
  
"I do believe you are right." Michael said, he also sounded awed.  
  
"How? She's not a daughter of Sineya" Buffy asked.  
  
"The Key is older than Sineya, it was in existence before creation." Mary said.  
  
"But how would that matter?" Spike asked.  
  
"The Slayers Blade was forged from energy, the same energy which was used to forge the Key." Mary said staring at Dawn.  
  
"Warmaster! We have a report of a demonic incursion in the Pynaya dimension." one of the other Angel Directorship members called to Michael.  
  
"Perhaps it is time to test out our new warriors?" Michael said looking at Dawn and Spike.  
  
"We'll provide backup." Buffy said.  
  
"Very well." Michael said.  
  
"Access to Pynaya, granted." came a voice from nowhere. "Portal to be opened in." "5 ." "4 ." "3 ." "2 ." "1 . portal opening."  
  
Off to the side of the room a portal opened with none of the usual quaking.  
  
"After you." Joseph and Spike both said indicating their respective partners, then smiled at each other.  
  
"Wait." called Mary.  
  
"What?" Spike asked.  
  
"You are not properly attired." Michael said looking him up and down.  
  
"What do you mean?" Spike asked looking at his clothes.  
  
Michael stared hard at him and his clothes began to glow and change.  
  
When they had finished they were similar to Joseph's. Pure white duster, white leather pants and a white sweater. There was a sword attached to his back it was identical to Joseph's.  
  
Dawn meanwhile was attaching the Slayers Blade to her back in it's own sheath.  
  
"Ready to go?" Joseph and Buffy asked in unison.  
  
"Ready, willing." Dawn began.  
  
".And able." Spike finished smiling at Dawn.  
  
"Ye god's that's annoying." Joseph said.  
  
"And a little disconcerting." Buffy said throwing her sister an evil glance.  
  
"Then glow with our blessing and return soon." another member of the Angel Directorship said.  
  
"We're gone." Spike said leading the way into the portal.  
  
The passage through the portal was calm and they emerged into a bright sunshine lit forest less than three minutes later.  
  
"Dawn, Spike go that way and scout, we'll go this way." Buffy said pointing to her left then to her right.  
  
Dawn and Spike rushed in the direction she had indicated. They moved faster than they would have if they were still human.  
  
Spike was struck by a thought just as they reached the tree line, "Hey, why am I not on fire?"  
  
"Because you're not a vampire anymore, you're an angel." Dawn said with a smile.  
  
"Really, wow." Spike said in a happily amazed tone.  
  
"Yea, it comes in handy for fighting angels." came Buffy's voice.  
  
Dawn and Spike both looked around for the slayer, found no one.  
  
"Buffy?" Dawn said tentatively.  
  
"Telepathic communication, another advantage of being an angel." came Buffy's voice again, no they thought about it Dawn and Spike both realised that the words were bypassing the normal route and just appearing in their heads.  
  
"I'll say it is, It's not working all the time though is it?" Dawn thought at Buffy.  
  
"No, when you need it just think at the person you want receiving it." Buffy thought back.  
  
"Anything over your way?" Spike thought at Buffy.  
  
"Nope, yours?" Buffy thought back.  
  
"Nothing, do we know what sort of demons we're dealing with?" Dawn thought at the other three.  
  
"I can sense some Devorshak demons some where close." Joseph thought.  
  
"Description?" Dawn thought.  
  
Joseph sent a mental image of the demon in question to Dawn, Spike and Buffy, it was big with orange skin, gigantic blue horns on it's temples and no nose. It's eyes were completely purple.  
  
"We got movement over here." Spike said, he was looking off to his right.  
  
Dawn followed his gaze, she saw about twenty Devorshak demons they seemed to be inebriated, "Can these things get drunk?" she thought at Joseph.  
  
"No, why?" he thought back.  
  
"Coz these ones look drunk." Dawn thought.  
  
"Huh, hang on a sec, this may feel a bit weird." Joseph thought as Dawn began to feel her optic nerve tighten, suddenly she had a sense of someone else inside her own head.  
  
"Damn, they've been drugged." Joseph thought.  
  
"What was that?" Dawn almost said that out loud.  
  
"Sorry, I borrowed your optic nerves for a while." Joseph's thoughts sounded apologetic.  
  
"That was an unusual feeling." Dawn thought back.  
  
"Back on topic people." thought Spike.  
  
"We're swinging round to meet up with you." thought Buffy.  
  
"Roger that." Dawn thought at her, then at Spike, "I've always wanted to say that."  
  
Spike just smiled at her.  
  
The Devorshak demon let out a howl, Dawn realised that they were laughing, one of them had apparently told a joke.  
  
"Are we going to ambush them?" Spike thought at Joseph.  
  
"No they aren't the target, they're the bait." Joseph thought back.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	3. Chapter 3 Ambush

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 3: Ambush  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
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Timeless: The Demonic War - III: Ambush  
  
"Bait for what?" Spike thought.  
  
"Look about four miles behind the Devorshak." Buffy thought at both Dawn and Spike.  
  
Obediently they did as they were told, and there they saw following the Devorshak demons were three of what looked like eight feet tall turtles walking on their hind legs. The only other distinctive feature about them was their tails, they were about six feet long and dragged through the grass.  
  
"What are those?" Dawn thought.  
  
"Those are Turtals demons." Buffy thought at them, "The turtle's of the twentieth century are descended from them."  
  
"Wow, they're magnificent creatures." Dawn said.  
  
"But they're deadly, one bite will introduce a powerful poison into the victims, the poison kills humans with in two minutes, it affects other being differently, it can kill angels." Joseph thought.  
  
"Wait a sec, you said the only way we can be killed is by decapitation, so how can this poison kill us?" Spike thought.  
  
"It spreads through out our nervous systems and will rot them from the inside out, even angels need a nervous system." he answered.  
  
"Eww." Dawn thought at the other three, "So how can we kill them?"  
  
"The Turtals can only be killed by cracking their shells." Buffy thought as she and Joseph crept up behind Dawn and Spike.  
  
"Any crack or a large one?" Spike asked in a quiet whisper.  
  
"Think it, don't say it." Joseph's thoughts sounded a little angry.  
  
"Sorry." Spike's thoughts didn't sound at all sorry.  
  
"Any crack in their shell will kill them almost instantly." Joseph thought at them.  
  
"You know you angels really should watch your flank more." came a gruff voice from behind them.  
  
All four of them spun round to see three demons, each one was well over nine feet tall. Two had three arms each while the other had four, they looked like they were from the same species but it was hard to tell from the vantage point of the angels.  
  
"And the lot of you should pay more attention to what's happening in the world around you." came a yell from behind the angels.  
  
"Bloody hell, Devorshak demons!" cried the demon with four arms.  
  
"Yea an' ya really shoulda paid more attention to ya backs." came the lead Devorshak demon's voice.  
  
The two groups of demons began circling the angels glancing between them and the opposing force.  
  
Suddenly there was a loud pop and a cloud of gas engulfed the three groups rendering them unconscious within seconds.  
  
"Dawn?" it was Buffy's voice that brought Dawn round. She tried to stretch her arms, but found them tied behind her back.  
  
"Dawn?" came Buffy's voice again.  
  
"What?" Dawn tried to say, but she found that it just came out as a croak.  
  
"Concentrate, speak in your mind." this was Joseph's telepathic voice.  
  
"What happened?" Dawn thought at them as she tried to open her eyes.  
  
"Hanoy Gas, a powerful knockout gas." came Spike's thoughts.  
  
"Why? Who?" Dawn thought, she was beginning to panic, she suddenly realised that her eyes were open, the location they were in was so black. There was absolutely no light at all.  
  
"Don't know, Hanoy Gas is illegal under the code of demonic combat, so I'm betting it was the rebels." Joseph thought.  
  
"There are rebels?" Dawn thought in astonishment.  
  
"In every war there are three sides, three opposing sides." Joseph thought, his thoughts seemed to have a touch of humour to them.  
  
"It's like the truth." Dawn thought.  
  
"What?" came Buffy's thoughts.  
  
Spike began thinking the phrase, his thoughts were smiling as he did so, "The truth is like a three edged sword."  
  
Dawn could feel her mouth muscles moving into a grin, ". there's your side, their side and the truth."  
  
"That's still disconcerting." Buffy thought at them.  
  
Dawn managed to actually croak a laugh out loud.  
  
"Bkd'n jelhl?" came a voice from across the room, the words were spoken in a demonic language but they arrived in Dawn's head in plain English, "Who's there?"  
  
Dawn coughed, before managing to say, "Who are you?"  
  
"Demoztac, I'm a Devorshak, who are you?" the voice answered.  
  
"We're from the angel army." Buffy answered.  
  
"Can you move?" Demoztac asked.  
  
"No, you?" this time Joseph answered.  
  
"No." Demoztac said, "You scum, you able to move?"  
  
It took Dawn a few second to realise that he wasn't speaking to them, but to the rest of his kin that had been captured.  
  
"Naw boss, we not goin' nowhere." came another voice.  
  
All this conversation, Dawn realised, was being spoken in different languages but it was all being understood.  
  
"Uck that was terrible grammar." Dawn's bout of teaching English took over for a second, "Sorry, force of habit."  
  
"No prob bob, we get tellings like that all time." came the voice again.  
  
"Hey, how many of you are there?" Buffy asked, to Dawn she sounded like she was getting a plan.  
  
"Bout six." came Demoztac's voice.  
  
"Buffy, what are you planning?" Dawn thought at her sister.  
  
"Razor sharp horns." Buffy thought back at her, sending along a mental image of what she was planning.  
  
"Oooh now that's a plan." Spike thought, he had obviously been listening in.  
  
Dawn couldn't help but smile in her lovers direction, she realised at that point that she could feel Spike just off to her left, if she concentrated she could almost see him.  
  
Suddenly Dawn realised that the room was very slowly being lit by an extremely faint green light.  
  
"What that light?" came a new voice.  
  
"Dawn? You're glowing." Buffy said out loud.  
  
"Dawn? as in Dawn Summers?" came yet another voice, this one wasn't human or Devorshak.  
  
Spike looked over at the far wall and saw a thin shadow, "Who's asking?"  
  
"I'm Tu'lathina, I'm a Corshack demon." the shadow told them.  
  
"How long have you been here, mate?" Spike asked.  
  
"Two thousand six hundred and thirty nine years." he answered.  
  
By this point Dawn was glowing brightly enough so they could all see. The demon who had spoken looked human, except for his build, which was tall and skinny, and his eyes, which were silver.  
  
"You are Dawn Summers, you are the Key." Tu'lathina said in amazement.  
  
"How do you know of me?" Dawn asked.  
  
"All the angel legions know of the Key." Tu'lathina answered.  
  
"You're and angel?" Buffy asked.  
  
"In principal if not in fact." Tu'lathina told her.  
  
"Of course Corshack demons cannot form relationships, that's why you're a dieing species." Joseph said.  
  
"To true, unfortunately." Tu'lathina answered.  
  
"So can anyone move?" Spike asked, he sounded a little exasperated.  
  
"I can, but until now I had no way of escape, with you here maybe we have a chance." Tu'lathina said walking over to Dawn and using his preternatural strength to break the ropes holding her.  
  
They both began to free the others, with in ten minutes the eleven demons and angels were free and looking suspiciously at each other in the light from Dawn.  
  
"What now?" Spike asked.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	4. Chapter 4 Escape & Retribution

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 4: Escape & Retribution  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
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Timeless: The Demonic War - IV: Escape & Retribution  
  
"Now we get out of here?" Dawn said.  
  
"Agreed." Tu'lathina said walking towards the door, well what passed for a door it looked more like a stone slab in a stone wall, the only thing that distinguished it from the rest of the wall was the slight discoloration around the edges.  
  
"If only we had the Slayers Blade." Joseph said.  
  
"But we can." Dawn said in a faraway voice.  
  
Spike looked at her eyes and saw that she was going, "Dawn, what are you doing?"  
  
"I'm going to get the blade." Dawn answered as her eyes turned grey and lifeless, Spike caught her as she collapsed.  
  
"Dawn!" Buffy cried as she rushed to her sister.  
  
Dawn could feel her spirit for lack of a better word leaving her body and following a call she hadn't realised she had been hearing. The call of the Slayers Blade.  
  
Her spirit flew through walls and floors up and forward through over ten floors. There shouldn't have been this many floors, she thought.  
  
"You think we got someone worth trading for, this time?" it was a voice coming from the next room Dawn thought that the voice sounded like Tu'lathina's.  
  
Dawn floated towards the room and as she poked her head through the wall she saw three demons that looked identical to Tu'lathina.  
  
"Yea, I think that second female the brunette is the Key." the one on the right said.  
  
"No kidding? The Key?" the one on the left said.  
  
"Bro'lathina, Alu'lathina we must keep focus." the third said.  
  
"Yea, yea Hos'lathina, it's not hard to keep an eye on eleven out of it prisoners." the first one, presumably Bro'lathina, said.  
  
"But Tu'lathina isn't out of it, is he?" Hos'lathina said with a scowl.  
  
"Yea but he's mentally challenged, you know that." the second one said. He must be, by process of elimination, Alu'lathina.  
  
"He doesn't believe like us, that doesn't make him mentally challenged." Hos'lathina snapped.  
  
Dawn meanwhile was looking round the room, specifically looking for the Slayers Blade, which she could feel in the room somewhere. As she was looking around she noticed a watery red glow coming from a chest off to the right of the room.  
  
"Hey, that funny swords glowing again." Alu'lathina said, taking a step towards the chest, "It's goodness is repulsive."  
  
Dawn ran to the chest, she found that her hand passed right through the lid. Inside she felt the sword, the one thing she had been able to feel since she left her body. She wrapped her hand around the hilt and lifted.  
  
The sword came right through the lid, the glow from the chest stop, the demon took a step backwards.  
  
Suddenly the chest exploded, sending splinters outwards. While they passed right through Dawn, the demons were nowhere near that lucky, several pieces struck Alu'lathina in the throat, while the other two faired a little better, with splinters striking them in their arms and legs.  
  
Dawn stood there watching the mayhem the explosion had caused. The sword was still in her hand but like her it seemed to be insubstantial.  
  
"Dawn." it was Buffy's voice but it was so faint she barely heard it.  
  
Dawn looked around to see if Buffy had somehow gotten out of the room, but she couldn't see her anywhere. So she turned at headed back to the room where the others were being held. Dawn found it a little hard to retrace her steps but she trusted the sword so she followed it's lead.  
  
"Dawn?" Buffy gently stroked Dawn's hair.  
  
Suddenly Dawn's body stood up, it's eye's flew open, they were still blank and lifeless.  
  
"She's here." Tu'lathina said looking around the room.  
  
Dawn could feel Tu'lathina looking at her, but she couldn't see anything. Off to her left she felt Spike and straight ahead she felt her body.  
  
"Go to it." came a voice she had never heard before.  
  
She did as the voice told her, she walked forwards toward her body.  
  
Spike was looking directly into Dawn's eyes when suddenly they burst to life with a bright green flash blinding Spike temporarily. Just as suddenly the Slayers Blade appeared in her hand.  
  
"Oh my." Joseph said looking at Dawn, whose eyes were still glowing green.  
  
"They're your people, that are holding us here." she said turning to Tu'lathina.  
  
"Yes, my brothers, they believe like most of my kind that this war is wrong, that both sides are fighting over nothing." Tu'lathina said hanging his head.  
  
"And you believe differently?" Dawn said walking towards him.  
  
"Yes, I believe that the war is necessary, that the Angels and the Demons must fight, to find the dominant religion." Tu'lathina said looking Dawn in her glowing eyes.  
  
"Dominant religion?" Joseph said, coming to stand behind Dawn, "This war isn't about theology."  
  
"Yes, it is, only you don't know it." Tu'lathina said changing the focus of his gaze.  
  
"You are all going to come with us." Dawn said spinning round to face the door.  
  
Taking several steps forward towards the door she raised the sword and carved an X in the door then shoved the blade through the center of it.  
  
The door, under that sort of pressure couldn't hold so it did the only thing it could. It crumbled into dust.  
  
Dawn strode through the hole left by the door, and headed towards the stairs just beyond. She stopped at the foot and turned to face the rest of them, "Well, are you coming?"  
  
"You bettcha boss." said one of the Devorshak demons. then as one the six of them walked to and climbed the stairs.  
  
"Now those are some weird demons." Spike said.  
  
"Tu'lathina, you next, I'm not letting you out of my sight." Dawn said waving the sword at him.  
  
The tall demon did as he was told.  
  
"Dawn? What's going on?" Buffy asked.  
  
"There's more to this war than we've been told." Dawn said.  
  
"And so what? Your gonna do something about it?" Spike asked.  
  
"The Angel Directorship is holding out on us, and I can't let that happen. Ever." Dawn said, the glow in her eyes was finally fading. She turned and stalked up the stairs after Tu'lathina.  
  
Buffy looked at Joseph, who shrugged and proceeded to follow Dawn.  
  
"Don't bother looking at me." Spike said, "She's never acted this way before."  
  
"I know and that's what bothers me the most." Buffy said heading after her sister and her lover.  
  
Ten minutes later they were out in the fresh air. The Devorshak demons were milling around as if at a loss as to what to do.  
  
"Joseph, can you open a portal to the Angel Directorship banquet hall?" Buffy asked.  
  
"No, I've been trying to for the last two minutes, something's blocking my attempts." he answered, he looked worried.  
  
"Stand aside." Dawn said. She moved to where he had been standing and began moving her arms in a circular motion, round and round and faster and faster.  
  
Soon her arms were moving faster than anything living could do, her arms were a blur, in the center a green glowing dot appeared and began growing.  
  
Within seconds the dot was larger than Dawn. When it reached about eight feet in diameter it stopped growing.  
  
"Right Devorshak demons first then Tu'lathina, Buffy and Joseph bring up the rear." Dawn's voice carried with a resonance that only an experienced military general could have.  
  
The group all piled through the portal.  
  
"Our operative has been placed with the Kay and the vampire." Rush'ak told Lucifer.  
  
"Good, will he succeed?" Lucifer asked looking at the gathered demons.  
  
"We.we cannot know." Gabnick said looking sheepish, which for a ferocious looking demon is very hard.  
  
"This is not good." Lucifer said.  
  
"The operative has already altered the perception of the Angel Directorship in the minds the angels." Fer'gevak said.  
  
Lucifer smiled, the gathered demons cringed.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	5. Chapter 5 Truth & Lies

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 5: Truth & Lies  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
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Timeless: The Demonic War - V: Truth & Lies  
  
Dawn had somehow in the interdimensional spaces ended up leading the group of demons and angels, so when she emerged from the portal she was the first to see bowing down in front of the members of the Angel Directorship, an old man with a flowing white hair and beard, wearing what looked like a gown covered with stars.  
  
"Merlin, you have done." Michael was saying, he broke off mid-sentence as he saw first Dawn then the Devorshak, then Tu'lathina and lastly the other three angels.  
  
"We have to talk." Dawn said menacingly, her words were made even more forceful due to the fact she had the Slayers Blade drawn, She didn't remember drawing it but it was there nonetheless and she felt good about it.  
  
"You have no right to demand anything from me." Michael said standing and walking towards her, "Or this council."  
  
By this point he was within arm and sword length's reach of Dawn.  
  
"You presume too much, Michael." Dawn punctuated the statement with a swish of the sword. A line of blood welled up on Michael's cheek.  
  
"Sacrilege!" cried Jeffery leaping to his feet.  
  
"Sit down." Dawn swished the sword in his direction. A cut opened up on his arm.  
  
The rest of the Angel Directorship clamped their lips together, none wanting to anger Dawn any further.  
  
"You sent us into an ambush." Dawn said as she began pacing in front of Michael.  
  
Merlin meanwhile had gotten to his feet and quietly walked over to stand behind Oracle.  
  
"You knew that we would get caught." Dawn said. Michael hadn't moved, the blood from his cut was running down his chiselled chin and dripping onto his white toga style outfit.  
  
"Why?" Dawn stopped pacing to stand directly in front of Michael.  
  
"We did not know for certain that it was a trap." Michael said, his voice was firm and steady as it usually was.  
  
"But you, personally, did." it was a statement not a question.  
  
"No." Michaels voice wavered slightly.  
  
"You're lying." this from Spike as he came to stand just behind Dawn.  
  
"Yes, he is." Oracle said as he walked forward, "How did you know? more importantly, why didn't you tell anyone?"  
  
"I.I.I." Michael could only stutter.  
  
"You, the head of the Angel Directorship, withheld vital information from us all?" Mary said staring at him.  
  
"That.that isn't possible." Jeffery managed to say.  
  
This whole affair had shaken everyone in the room.  
  
"The possible is always possible, if the right circumstances are present." Dawn said, "Buffy, could you take the demons to the holding cells?"  
  
Buffy nodded and with Joseph's help managed to herd the Devorshak demons and Tu'lathina out of the room.  
  
"Dawn, you cannot take over this council." Jeffery said standing.  
  
"She has the power to do it." Spike retorted.  
  
"And she has the backing on myself." Mary said standing and turning to look at Jeffery.  
  
"Then we have two opposing views, that demands that a vote be taken." a third member said.  
  
"All those in favour." Mary began.  
  
"Stop." Dawn's voice was barely a whisper, but it resonated around the room, making everyone clasp their hands to their ears and making Michael collapse to his knees.  
  
Michael looked up at Dawn, the fear was plain in his eyes.  
  
"I do not want control of this council." Dawn said looking at each of the members.  
  
"Then what do you want?" Mary asked.  
  
"The truth, and nothing else." Dawn said looking at her.  
  
"The council did not know it was an ambush, we received a report and we dispatched you." Mary said, "I do not know what Michael knew."  
  
"Answer me." Dawn said looking Michael in the eyes.  
  
"T-they came to me and a-asking me to s-send t-the K-Key to t-them." Michaels voice was cracking, as it seemed was his mind, "The twelve, the black and blue twelve."  
  
"His mind is going." Mary said staring down at the pitiful wreck that was Michael, once the most powerful member of the Angel Directorship.  
  
Michael gave a ferocious roar, suddenly a sword appeared in his hand. He rushed at Mary, whose back was now turned away from him.  
  
Dawn, although his vision was obscured by Mary, knew what was about to happen, she pushed Mary aside bringing up the Slayers Blade to meet Michael's blade with a crackle of energy.  
  
"Don't." Dawn said quietly.  
  
"H'ii l-hii q'do s'ii." Dawn realised that Michael was speaking in Angelic, of course like every other language it was arriving in her brain fully translated into English, I'll kill you all he had said.  
  
"Why?" Dawn asked in angelic as they circled each other swords at the ready.  
  
"For the truth." Michael lunge at her, trying to impale her on his blade.  
  
"What truth?" Dawn parried his blow sending him off balance. Dawn used her fist to hit Michael on the back of the neck.  
  
"The truth of the lies." Michael cried as he leapt to his feet and came at Dawn again.  
  
"What lies?" Dawn was getting really pissed off at his answers. She smashed her blade down on his causing it to become embedded in the floor.  
  
"The lies that cover the surface of a world in peril." Michael snarled as he tried to free his sword.  
  
"Explain!" Dawn lifted her sword to rest just under his chin.  
  
"No, the truth must be free, it must be free of lies." Michael threw himself backwards away from her sword.  
  
Michael should have checked behind him.  
  
Standing there with his sword drawn was Spike, when Michael threw himself backwards he impaled himself on his sword.  
  
Dawn walked slowly towards the trapped Michael.  
  
"Why have you tried to sabotage this war?" Dawn asked as she raised her sword and pointed it at his throat.  
  
"The Legion Council has powers beyond anything we ever imagined, they have capabilities that eclipse ours." Michael said. He was trying to move forward.  
  
Suddenly he jerked himself forward. Dawn's sword went straight through his neck coming out the back.  
  
Dawn yanked the blade to her left severing most of Michael's head from him body, she then swung the sword back taking the rest of his head.  
  
Without his head Michael's body began to rapidly turn to dust, slower than a vampires yet faster than a normal human.  
  
It had been several hours since Dawn had taken Michael's life, the Angel Directorship had elected Mary to the post of Warmaster.  
  
Dawn was sitting with Spike in front of the members, who were pronouncing the findings of their investigations into Michael's betrayal.  
  
"It is the judgement of this panel, that the angel Dawn acted in the correct and right manner, she has helped uncover the plot to destabilise the war effort from within." said Mary who as the head of the Directorship was seated at the center of the table.  
  
Dawn just nodded and gave a small smile.  
  
"The demon, Tu'lathina, having helped Dawn escape capture by the rebel forces is hereby promoted to field operative, and assigned to the training facility in the dimension Trulack'e." Mary continued.  
  
"Thank you." Tu'lathina said bowing his head.  
  
"Then, this tribunal is dismissed." Mary said hitting a gravel that had appeared out of nowhere on the table.  
  
"Our contact on the inside has been killed." Rush'ak informed Lucifer.  
  
"I know, that was part of the plan." Lucifer rumbled in reply.  
  
"What about the undercover agent?" Fer'gevak asked.  
  
"He will be in place soon." Rush'ak said. Of course for the Legion Council soon could mean anywhere between two days to three centuries.  
  
"And the recruiting?" Lucifer asked.  
  
"It is progressing admirably." Duv'niknik answered, "Loki is supplying us with a steady stream of fresh blood, no pun intended."  
  
"Good." Lucifer smiled.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	6. Chapter 6 Trapped

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 6: Trapped  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
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Timeless: The Demonic War - VI: Trapped  
  
"Field Operative Tu'lathina, reporting as ordered, Sir." Tu'lathina said as he approached the general in charge of the training facility.  
  
"We've had reports of D.U.O's out on the perimeter, I want you to take a squad and check it out." ordered General Gorathis, he was the highest ranking angel army member to ever be placed in charge of a training camp.  
  
"Aye, Sir." Tu'lathina said saluting and turning to leave.  
  
"I suggest taking Beta Squad, they're the only squad with actual combat experience." the general said.  
  
"Understood Sir." Tu'lathina said before leaving the command tent.  
  
He stood outside in the dusk like light of this world. The camp was a buzz, there were rumours of an all out assault being launched by the Legion Council on several command stations throughout several dimensions.  
  
No confirmation was forthcoming from the Angel Directorship, apparently there was some sort of problem in communications, either getting to or coming from the war-room.  
  
Tu'lathina knew the truth, he knew that the rumours were in fact very true, the Legion Council was launching an all out assault on the angel army. He knew this because he was an undercover operative for the Legion Council.  
  
"Beta Squad! Form up!" he shouted at the top of his voice. Twelve rather worn looking demons and humanoid shaped rushed to stand at attention in front of Tu'lathina.  
  
"Right, boys we're on a recon mission to scout the training camp perimeter." he yelled at them.  
  
"Sir?" came a voice from the end of the row.  
  
"Yes?" Tu'lathina said looking at the demon.  
  
"We were wondering if the rumours were true, Sir." the demon said.  
  
"What rumours would those be, soldier?" Tu'lathina asked.  
  
"The ones concerning the other outposts, Sir." the demon responded.  
  
"We cannot confirm those rumours, and even if we could it is of no concern to you." Tu'lathina lied. He had found that this lie got easier and easier with each telling of it.  
  
"Understood, Sir." the demon said saluting.  
  
"Right troops, move out!" Tu'lathina said.  
  
Dawn, Spike and Buffy were stranded.  
  
They had gone on a recon to the demon dimension of Pyth'agorus, Joseph had been forced to stay behind to take care of some personal business. The recon was a bust there were no demons of any sort in the dimension, that they could find, neither native nor alien.  
  
Dawn had tried to open a portal to their second mission for the day, a scout mission to the dimension of Truthandilles, where the Angel Directorship had stationed a secondary Directorship there in case the main one was hit. The secondary Directorship stopped responding three days earlier.  
  
The portal opened but the trio found that they could not enter it. It seemed that the interdimensional space had been closed off to all travellers.  
  
"I really hope no one was in their when it broke down." Spike said peering into the portal.  
  
"It hasn't broken down." Buffy said, "It just stopped working."  
  
Spike gave her a withering look, "Oh that's helpful, that really is."  
  
"Quiet." Dawn spoke up. She was sitting cross legged on the ground meditating.  
  
"What is it?" Buffy looked at her sister with concern.  
  
"The interdimensional travel routes have been shut down." Dawn said.  
  
"And your point would be?" Spike asked.  
  
"My point is that I have to concentrate so I can forge new routes." Dawn snapped without opening her eyes.  
  
Spike and Buffy both moved out of earshot of Dawn, then began to look around the area.  
  
"Can she do it?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Yea, with the control of her powers that being an angel has given her she can do almost anything." Spike said.  
  
Tu'lathina had done as he had been ordered to do. By both his commanders. The angel general had ordered him to patrol the perimeter for demonic activities. His Legion Council contact had ordered him to take care of his squad and then head to the command camp.  
  
He was acting like he was badly injured, with a lot of help from a demonic makeup artist. He limped through forest towards the camp.  
  
"Do what you must to convince them to send out the rest of the squads." were his orders.  
  
Tu'lathina felt nothing about leading those who had tried to befriend him into the jaws of death. In fact he didn't feel anything ever that's what made him the perfect operative.  
  
He glimpsed through the trees the front gate to the camp so he began to limp faster.  
  
"Help!" he cried as he got within shouting distance.  
  
"Sound the alarm, Sergeant Tu'lathina's at the front gate." th sentry cried as he opened the gate.  
  
Medics rushed to help him but he shrugged them off, "I'm okay, I'm already healing."  
  
"What happened?" the general was approaching the gathering.  
  
"Ambush, it was an ambush, they have masses of demons waiting out there." Tu'lathina gasped out.  
  
"How many?" the general asked.  
  
"I-I don't know." Tu'lathina said the wounds were slowly disappearing from his body.  
  
"Major mobilise the troops, we're going on a demon hunt." the general roared at the angel that was standing nearby.  
  
Tu'lathina smiled to himself, "Come into my lair said the spider to the fly." he thought  
  
"Buffy." Buffy was patrolling the area near the portal when she heard a voice calling her.  
  
"Did you say my name?" Buffy asked Spike.  
  
"Nope." he answered, "I didn't hear anything."  
  
"Buffy." came the voice again.  
  
"Yes?" Buffy answered.  
  
"This is Merlin." came the voice again.  
  
"Where are you?" Buffy asked.  
  
"I'm on Earth, at Stonehenge, I'm tapping into the magicks of creation, it was the only way to reach anyone." Merlin answered.  
  
"Ah, psychic audio projection." Buffy said. Up till this point Spike had been looking at her like she was mad, now realisation dawned in his eyes, "Could you reach anyone else?"  
  
"No, and that's worrying me." came the ancient man's voice.  
  
"Do you know what's happening?" Buffy asked him.  
  
"No, I cannot open a portal, I was hoping you would have better luck, but obviously you haven't." Merlin said, the resignation was audible.  
  
"Dawn's says the interdimensional travel routes have been closed." Buffy told him, "She's trying to forge new routes."  
  
"She will succeed." Merlin said, Buffy thought he did so more to reassure himself than anything else.  
  
"How can you be so sure?" Buffy asked.  
  
"She has to." Merlin's voice carried a determination that Buffy didn't feel.  
  
Buffy noticed Spike moving back towards Dawn, "Merlin, I'll have to get back to you."  
  
"Take care, watch your back, if the interdimensional travel routes are closed then something's terribly wrong." Merlin said removing his presence from Buffy's mind.  
  
Dawn was concentrating on the interdimensional spaces when she hit something. Something solid. Something huge.  
  
She groaned as her mind was forced out of the nothingness and back into her body.  
  
"Dawn?" Spike's voice broke through her concentration.  
  
"Ooh, Spike? . There's something in there, it's stopping all travel." Dawn said, her voice was croaking slightly.  
  
"Something like?" Buffy asked as Dawn opened up her eyes.  
  
"A rip." Dawn said in a shocked voice.  
  
"A rip? You don't mean . a temporal tear?" Buffy asked in an equally shocked voice.  
  
Dawn could only nod.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	7. Chapter 7 The Rip

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 7: The Rip  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
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Timeless: The Demonic War - VII: The Rip  
  
"Are you sure it's a temporal tear?" Buffy asked her sister.  
  
Dawn still couldn't find her voice so she just nodded.  
  
"Buffy? What's going on?" Spike asked.  
  
"There were rumours that the Legion Council had developed a doomsday weapon." Buffy said slumping down onto the ground, "They called it a Temporal Disrupter, it takes space/time and rips it apart."  
  
"And they've triggered it?" Spike could barely believe his ears.  
  
"Not yet." Buffy said looking at him, "If they had we would no longer exist, the rip will be moving backwards through time from when it was triggered."  
  
"Everything's going." Dawn managed to croak out.  
  
Buffy scooted over to place an arm round her sister, "It's alright Dawny."  
  
"So the rip won't have reached, say, three hundred years ago?" Spike said, he had a funny look on his face.  
  
"Probably not." Buffy said wondering where Spike was going with that train of thought.  
  
Spike seemed to realise this so he began outlining his thought, "Dawn can move through time."  
  
"I can't, not at the moment." Dawn said. Spike realised that she was crying.  
  
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked looking at her.  
  
"The rip is affecting my powers." Dawn said, she sounded helpless.  
  
"Sire, there is a rip in space/time." Duv'niknik said as he entered the presence of Lucifer.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"We have located a rip in space/time." Duv'niknik repeated.  
  
"It is affecting all the dimensional portals?" Lucifer had a huge frown.  
  
"Yes." Duv'niknik hung his head.  
  
"The doomsday weapon?" Lucifer asked.  
  
"We think so." Duv'niknik said still looking at the floor.  
  
"Our operative?" Lucifer stood and walked across the room.  
  
"We are unable to reach him but he should be proceeding with the plan." Duv'niknik said turning to face Lucifer.  
  
"We could be in trouble." he said stroking his goatee.  
  
"Buffy?" it was Merlin's voice.  
  
The three angels were sitting on the ground Buffy still had her arm around Dawn. Spike meanwhile was watching the surrounding woods, he had thought he had heard a sound a while ago.  
  
"Yes?" Buffy answered.  
  
"Do you know what's happening?" Merlin asked.  
  
"There is a rip in space/time." Buffy told him. As she was talking Buffy got up and moved a discreet distance away from Spike and Dawn, in her absence the former put his arm around the latter.  
  
"The doomsday weapon." Merlin said in amazement, "I never thought we would drive them to it."  
  
"Well obviously we did." Buffy said with a harrumph.  
  
"Can Dawn travel ahead of the rip?" Merlin asked.  
  
"No, she says her power is being affected." Buffy answered with a worried look over at her sister.  
  
"I'm going to take a risk and send you some help." Merlin said with a determined edge to his thoughts.  
  
"How? We can't get out of this dimension, I imagine you're in the same predicament." Buffy said.  
  
"I'm going to use the last of the creation magicks, it will be dangerous but if I don't none of us may get out of this alive." Merlin said as he pulled his presence out of Buffy's head.  
  
Buffy shook her head as she walked back to Dawn and Spike. Dawn looked up at her sister as she approached, she had stopped crying but her eyes were still red rimmed.  
  
"What's going on?" Spike asked.  
  
"Merlin's sending some help." Buffy said.  
  
"How?" Dawn asked in a hushed voice.  
  
"He's tapping into the creation magicks." Buffy said.  
  
Several feet away the air began to ripple and bend as a highly charged portal opened. This portal was different to the normal ones, it had none of the ground quakes nor any of the flashes of light.  
  
From the heart of the portal came two black shapes that were gradually growing larger and larger until the formed the shapes of two women. One a redhead the other blonde.  
  
"Willow!" cried Buffy running to her best friend.  
  
"Tara?" Dawn cried as she sprang to her feet and rushed to the blonde witch.  
  
Both witches were enveloped in hugs from their friends, while Spike stood back watching.  
  
In the time since Spike and Dawn had become angels they had only had the chance to see Willow and Tara once, just after Dawn had killed Michael, the former head of the Angel Directorship.  
  
"Merlin thought you could use some help." Willow said, her red hair was long again and flowing down the back of the white robes she was wearing.  
  
"He said there's some sort of problem in the interdimensional spaces?" Tara said, he own hair was also long but not as long as her wiccan lover's, "He neglected to tell us what it was."  
  
"To busy training his knights?" Spike spoke up.  
  
"Yea, the Order of Knights has gotten a lot of new recruits lately and of course Merlin's trying to train them all personally." Tara said with a smile.  
  
"Figures." Buffy said, "Dawn knows what the problem is better than us."  
  
Buffy led the other four towards the main portal.  
  
"The main routes stopped working, and I was forging new ones when I hit a rip." Dawn said.  
  
"A rip . in space/time?" Tara asked.  
  
"Yea." Dawn sounded very depressed.  
  
"How big?" Willow asked.  
  
"Big. Very big." Dawn answered.  
  
Willow and Tara stopped in front of the portal and peered in.  
  
"You see that?" Willow looked at her lover.  
  
"That ripple?" Tara asked as she peered closer.  
  
"Yup." Willow said tearing her eyes off Tara, "The rip's giant, and it's growing."  
  
"Can you help Dawn move backwards through time?" Buffy asked her two friends.  
  
"Yea, is the rip stopping her?" Willow asked.  
  
"Got it in one." Spike said.  
  
"The German spell?" Willow asked looking at Tara.  
  
"You read my mind." Tara said with a huge smile.  
  
The trio of angels stood together with the two witches walking circles around them chanting. "Augen des Grüns, Anblick unseen, verschieben Sie diese Leute, durch die Blickbohrung."  
  
Their chants grew louder and louder as their movements grew faster. A wind kicked up out of nowhere blowing everyone's hair. The clouds began moving fast across the sky, light turning to dark then back again.  
  
The chanting went on for several minutes as did the cloud and light movement suddenly Willow and Tara collapsed and everything stopped. Things stopped so suddenly that the trio that had been standing still fell over as if they had just jumped off a moving truck.  
  
"Wow." breathed Spike.  
  
"Tell me about it." Buffy said as she crawled to Willow.  
  
"Ooh that hurt." the witch said as she sat up.  
  
"Did it work?" Tara asked as she too sat up.  
  
Spike meanwhile was sitting up and turning to look at Dawn when he noticed something was wrong. Dawn was gone.  
  
"Um, where's Dawn?" he asked.  
  
They all scrambled to look around but Dawn was nowhere to be seen.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	8. Chapter 8 Lost

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 8: Lost  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
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Timeless: The Demonic War - VIII: Lost  
  
"Dawn!" Buffy and the gang ware calling her, she could hear them.  
  
"Buffy! I'm over here!" called Dawn from where she had landed in a patch of shrubbery.  
  
"Dawn! Where are you!" Spike yelled from less than three feet away.  
  
"I'm right here!" she called to him.  
  
"There's no sign of her." Spike said turning to look at Buffy.  
  
"Thing's can't just vanish into thin air." Buffy said, almost stamping her feet.  
  
"They can actually, especially when you move things through time." Willow said walking up behind her best friend.  
  
"Somehow Dawn must have been dropped off a fraction of a second before the rest of us." Tara said.  
  
By this point Dawn was walking round the rest of the gang, she even experimented by putting her hand through Spike's torso.  
  
"We felt some drag while we were performing the spell, it could have been the Key." Tara continued.  
  
"So how do we get her back?" Spike demanded, actually stamping his foot like a child.  
  
"I don't know, this has never actually happened before." Willow said, her voice betrayed the worry she felt over Dawn.  
  
"Possibly if Dawn is conscious she could perform the spell and she could join us here and now." Tara said with a thoughtful look on her face.  
  
"Are we far enough from the rip for Dawn's powers to work?" Spike asked what Dawn herself had been thinking. Obviously even out of phase they still though alike.  
  
"We should be." Willow answered wondering what Spike was thinking.  
  
Buffy and Tara realised it at the same time, "She could use her power." Buffy began.  
  
".To phase back into our timeframe." Tara finished.  
  
"Ya know Buff that is disconcerting." Spike said with a smile.  
  
Buffy said nothing she just gave him a withering look.  
  
Willow cupped her hands around her mouth and called, "Dawn! If you can hear me then use your powers bring yourself into phase with us."  
  
Dawn heard alright, but she had no idea how to do what Willow had asked.  
  
"How?" Dawn asked herself.  
  
"Concentrate on yourself, make your body real." came a voice from nowhere.  
  
"Who are you?" Dawn asked looking around and seeing no one.  
  
"Concentrate on yourself, make your body real." the voice repeated.  
  
"Yea, yea." Dawn said as she did as she was told.  
  
Willow and Buffy were looking at a random spot on the ground when a see- through version of Dawn's feet faded into view, their eye's flicked immediately up her body to her head.  
  
"Dawn." breathed Buffy.  
  
At his beloved's name Spike's head spun round to look straight at her, "Dawn."  
  
Dawn smiled as she got more and more solid.  
  
"She did it." Willow said in triumph.  
  
"Yes I did." Dawn said as she became fully solid, "What say we get out of her and back to Earth?"  
  
"Now that's the best idea I've heard in the last thousand years." Buffy said smiling.  
  
Dawn walked over to where the portal opened and began waving her hand in circles until there was a rippling and a portal opened with a rumble.  
  
"After you." Dawn said indicating that Buffy and the two witches should go first.  
  
"Thanks." Buffy said in a slightly sarcastic tone as she entered the portal followed closely by Willow and Tara.  
  
"Spike, can you bring up the rear?" Dawn asked looking at her lover.  
  
"Yea, I love watching your rear." Spike said with a suggestive smile.  
  
Merlin stood in the middle of Stonehenge, the year was 1753 and something was wrong.  
  
"Master, should you not contact someone?" a knight asked as he approached him.  
  
"No, things will work out." Merlin said watching as a portal began to form, it moved slowly which was very unusual for an interdimensional portal.  
  
Merlin focused his mind on it and he felt something moving towards the opening, something powerful.  
  
When the portal reached full size three figures emerged. The first was a short blonde woman dressed as a knight, the other two were dressed as witches, one was a redhead and the other a blonde.  
  
The second they left the portal another two people emerged, the first was a stunning brunette woman with bright blue eyes also dressed as a knight, and the last was a male with a very white color hair he too was dressed as a knight.  
  
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Merlin demanded of the first blonde woman.  
  
"We're from the Angel Directorship." Buffy answered.  
  
"The Legion Council has done the unthinkable." Dawn said.  
  
"The doomsday weapon?" Merlin asked.  
  
The five new arrivals nodded.  
  
"Follow me." Merlin said turning on his heels and leading the way down the slight slope towards a nondescript paddock. When the reached the fence the air rippled and they were suddenly standing in a massive military style camp with hundreds of tents and knights milling round some gathered round fires roasting slain animals.  
  
"What is this place?" Spike asked.  
  
"This is the training ground for the Order of the Knights." Buffy answered.  
  
"The order of the Knights? You mean Hunter's lot?" Spike asked.  
  
"Yes." Dawn answered.  
  
"Most of the trainees are orphans or volunteers who have no family to worry about them." Merlin called back, "I do not know of this 'Hunter' you speak of."  
  
"A future recruit." Buffy firmly stated. Her tone conveyed that this line of discussion should be stopped.  
  
"I see." Merlin said as they reached what seemed to be the main tent, inside they found many magickal and spiritual items including in the center a rather large crystal ball.  
  
"And what is that for?" Spike asked pointing to it.  
  
"A long range communications device." Merlin answered as he walked straight up to it and began to say the incantation to connect with the Angel Directorship.  
  
"Wait." Dawn said, "Buffy, outside for a sec."  
  
"Sure." Buffy said following her sister out of the tent.  
  
"Should we really let him contact the directorship?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Why?" Buffy asked back.  
  
"Michael's still in charge." Dawn pointed out.  
  
"Oh, so we should try and do this in the Q.T." Buffy said realisation dawning in her eyes.  
  
"So what do we tell Merlin?" Dawn asked.  
  
"That this mission is being conducted under comms blackout." Buffy answered.  
  
"A comms blackout mission?" Merlin sounded a little dubious, "Haven't had one of those in a long time."  
  
"We need to tap the power of creation to send us to the Angel Directorship HQ." Buffy said.  
  
"Okay that shouldn't be too hard." Merlin said leading the way back to Stonehenge.  
  
"You can do it." Willow said, "We have faith in you." what Willow didn't mention was that she and Tara had already seen him do it at least a dozen times during their time stationed here.  
  
Soon they were gathered in front of the portal with Merlin casting a spell to bring up the most powerful force in the universe, the power of creation, the same power that had brought life to this small piece of rock called Earth.  
  
As the power began to flow into the portal it changed from being a purplish color to a bright yellow. Dawn could feel the pull of the energy, she realised that it was because she was made of the same energy.  
  
"The portal is fully powered and you are ready to go." Merlin said.  
  
"We'll see you round." Spike said as he ushered the women into the portal ahead of himself.  
  
"Yes you will." Merlin said as the portal began to shrink behind them, "I just hope you can stop the darkness that's coming."  
  
Merlin stuck a finger into the portal forcing it to open again, "Jason!"  
  
Suddenly his most trusted student was at his side, despite the fact that just seconds ago he was on the other side of the camp, "Yes Merlin?"  
  
"Follow them, keep them safe." the great mage said, "Take the cloak of Ober'jein."  
  
"The cloak?" Jason asked.  
  
"It will obscure you from sight, there is no know force in the universe that can penetrate it's field." Merlin said as the cloak suddenly appeared in his hands.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	9. Chapter 9 The End

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 9: The End?  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Timeless: The Demonic War - IX: The End?  
  
Dawn led the way towards their destination. Jason admired the way she just seemed to take charge, almost as if she was more than human.  
  
"We're here, is everyone ready for anything?" Dawn said stopping and turning to face the group. Jason stopped a few feet away securely shrouded from view by the cloak.  
  
"Ready." Buffy said nodding.  
  
"Willing." Willow said also nodding.  
  
"And able." Tara finished.  
  
"Oh my head you three are bad." Spike said rolling his eyes.  
  
"Now you know how we feel when you and Dawn do it." Buffy said smiling.  
  
"Okay are we quite done with the annoying?" Dawn said placing her hands on her hips and tapping her right foot.  
  
"Sorry." Willow said.  
  
"Right, arm up." Dawn said, the Slayers Blade suddenly appeared in her hand.  
  
"How do you do that?" Tara asked.  
  
"Magic." Dawn said with a smile.  
  
Spike and Buffy had also drawn their blades and Willow and Tara had gotten what looked like magicians wands out of the pouch attached to their belts.  
  
"Let's go." Dawn said opening the portal that led to the Angel Directorship HQ.  
  
The scene on the other side of the portal was not what any of them were expecting, there were headless bodies piled on the floor, the tables had all either been turned over or smashed, all the intricately done stained glass windows had been smashed as had the alter on which were usually stored the holy relics, which were nowhere to be seen.  
  
The group heard a whimpering from under a pile of bodies.  
  
"Hello?" called Buffy.  
  
"Buffy?" came an answering call from under the bodies, Buffy recognised the voice as Mary's.  
  
"Mary? Are you okay?" Dawn said running to the pile and pulling bodies off it.  
  
"Yes, but the demons they came in through a portal and started killing all the angels they could find, I only managed to survive by hiding my head under a body, I-I don't know whose." Mary's voice sounded scared.  
  
"Grab my hand." Spike told her as he reached for hers and pulled her to her feet.  
  
Mary's pure white outfit was covered in semidry blood and a few bits that were thick and gooey looking.  
  
"Did you see who was leading them?" Willow asked.  
  
"Yes, Field Operative Tu'lathina." Mary said.  
  
"Tu'lathina? Isn't he on our side?" Dawn asked looking confused.  
  
"Of course, undercover agent." Spike said, "That's what I'd do."  
  
"That's a good point, do we have any operatives in the Legion Council forces?" Buffy asked.  
  
"A couple, but they are under strict no com orders." Mary answered.  
  
"Is there anyone else alive in here?" Tara asked the room at large.  
  
"We'll check the rest of the building." Buffy said as she and Spike headed towards the door.  
  
"Watch your backs." Dawn called.  
  
"How many demons were there?" Willow asked as she helped Mary to one of the few remaining chairs.  
  
"Lots, maybe three or four dozen." she answered.  
  
"How did they get past the magickal barriers?" Dawn asked.  
  
"They had a Wraith Demon." Mary answered.  
  
Buffy and Spike burst back into the room, "There are a couple of dozen demons heading downwards towards the dungeons." she called.  
  
"The dungeons?" Mary said, she sounded horrified, "You have to stop them! Take this." she pulled what looked like a medallion from around her neck, "Go down through the east passage, you must hurry."  
  
"Why?" Dawn asked taking the medallion.  
  
"They will wake him." Mary was sounding like she was loosing her grip on sanity.  
  
"Him who?" Dawn pushed.  
  
"Him, the grea." Mary was cut off by a disc of sharp metal that slammed into her neck, chopping off her head.  
  
The gang spun round to see a shadow vanish through the door.  
  
"After it!" cried Dawn taking off after the shadow.  
  
Buffy and Spike ran after her and after a quick glance at the body of Mary so to did Willow and Tara.  
  
Tu'lathina was waiting outside the dungeon door for his Wraith Demon ally to return from getting the key.  
  
His mission should have been simple, the intelligence had said nothing about needing a key, but, as with any war, intelligence in undercover operatives is not a requirement only a preferred skill.  
  
A shadow moved swiftly down the hall towards him.  
  
"Did you.?" he didn't finish the question when the shadow turned out to be one of the other undercover operatives.  
  
"Colonel?" the demon asked as he became solid.  
  
"I thought you were the Wraith." Tu'lathina told him.  
  
"Oh, has it not returned yet?" the demon asked looking round.  
  
"What do you think?" Tu'lathina snapped.  
  
"I am sorry sir." the demon said hanging his head.  
  
"And so you should be." Tu'lathina snapped, "Go guard the other end of the hallway."  
  
"Yes sir." the demon said merging with the shadows again and heading away from the angry Tu'lathina.  
  
"Stupid idiot." Tu'lathina mumbled to himself.  
  
"Report Tu'lathina." came Lucifer's voice from nowhere.  
  
"We have breached the Angel Directorship defences, we have reached the dungeon, we only await the key to gain entry." Tu'lathina told the thin air.  
  
"Our intelligence said nothing about a key." Lucifer said.  
  
"Yes, my liege, but you know how hard it is to get good intelligence." Tu'lathina said.  
  
"Yes." Lucifer rumbled.  
  
"Was there any further orders sire?" Tu'lathina asked.  
  
"Yes make sure that Dawn is dead before you leave there." Lucifer rumbled before removing his presence from the area.  
  
"Guard!" called Tu'lathina.  
  
"Yes sir?" the shadow said as it moved back towards him.  
  
"If you see Dawn, kill her." Tu'lathina said. His face showed absolutely no emotion.  
  
"Can I get confirmation of that sir?" the demon wasn't sure if he had heard right.  
  
"I said kill her!" Tu'lathina yelled, this time his face showed a lot of emotion mostly anger and hate.  
  
"Yes Sir!" the demon said as he quickly withdrew from Tu'lathina's presence.  
  
"Bloody idiots, I'm surrounded by bloody idiots." Tu'lathina mumbled as he began pacing.  
  
He was remembering when he had first meet Dawn, she had not known it but he had been disguised as a school class mate when Dawn had been very young, she had held such promise that the Legion Council had wanted to keep an eye on her, and of course he, being the best undercover operative he was sent in.  
  
She had soon befriended him and that was when he had first met Buffy, he had known as soon as he saw her that she was the slayer, he had also known that if he continued to hang around Dawn that Buffy would find out his true nature. So he had been forced to abandon his surveillance, he had been severely punished for that.  
  
Tu'lathina was startled out of his thoughts by the approach of the Wraith.  
  
"Colonel, I failed to retrieve the key to the dungeon." came a female voice from the shadowy form, "Dawn and her troop were there, they have the key."  
  
"And of course they are following you?" Tu'lathina made it an angry question.  
  
"Yea, we are following it." came Buffy's voice as the demon standing guard flew through the air hitting the wall so hard his neck broke.  
  
"Ahh Buffy, so good of you to join us." Tu'lathina said sarcastically. Suddenly his sword was in his hand, "Surround them!"  
  
Suddenly from out of nowhere Buffy, Spike, Dawn, Willow and Tara were surrounded by dozens of demons who hadn't been there a second before.  
  
"Oh I'm glad we're not playing friends anymore." Buffy said angrily, "Because I'm going to kick your arse."  
  
"Thank you for sharing." the Wraith said.  
  
"Ahh yes, I believe you know our Wraith Demon?" Tu'lathina said indicating the shadow.  
  
The shadow became solid and took the form of a young blonde woman, who Buffy remembered from her days at Sunnydale High.  
  
"Amy Madison." Buffy said grimly.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	10. Chapter 10 The End part 2

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 10: The End? Part 2  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Timeless: The Demonic War - X: The End? Part 2  
  
"Yes, And guess what." Amy didn't wait for a reply before continuing, "I'm stronger and more powerful that ever."  
  
"Yea well we got the key you're looking for." Spike retorted.  
  
"Not for long." Amy said. She focused her telekinetic powers on the key in Dawn's hand and began to pull it away from her.  
  
"No ya don't." Spike leapt at the Wraith.  
  
"Stop!" called Buffy. Spike managed to pull himself up into a crouch a few feet away from Amy.  
  
"Wise choice slayer." Amy snarled as the key was finally ripped from Dawn's hands and flew to her.  
  
"Open the doors, we will handle these angel scum." Tu'lathina ordered her as he stepped forward.  
  
"Bring it on demon!" called Willow, it sounded to Buffy as if she was trying to sound bigger than she really was.  
  
"I can't let you open that door." Dawn said as she stepped forward brandishing her blade, "Spike?"  
  
"Gottchya." Spike smiled as he nodded.  
  
Buffy knew that they were both thinking the same thing, she just wished that they would let her in on it.  
  
Suddenly Spike sprang at Tu'lathina a sword suddenly appeared in his hand, just like Tu'lathina's had. He brought it down towards the demon commander's head.  
  
"You're too slow angel!" suddenly Tu'lathina was no longer where he had been, he was now behind Spike.  
  
Spike tried to turn to bring his sword up to defend him self but he was, as Tu'lathina had said, too slow.  
  
Meanwhile Dawn and Buffy had also sprung into action each taking on several of the demons cornering them in.  
  
Willow and Tara, by this point, figured out what their job was, they were going after Amy.  
  
From Amy's perspective things were going according to plans, she had the key and Tu'lathina was distracting the angels, she decided that she should continue with her main mission. Getting into the dungeon and getting the power core.  
  
Eons ago the power core had been an angel, in fact it had been the most powerful of all angels. But as thing usually go there was an accident and it was badly damaged and it would have died but in their infinite wisdom the Angel Directorship had found a way to place the body into a type of biological stasis, one from which there was no waking and no recovery.  
  
Over the space of a hundred years the pod in which the body was stored began to radiate energy, an energy which never seemed to wear out, it seemed to keep coming. The Angel Directorship decided to use the pod to provide power for the entire Angel Directorship building.  
  
Amy knew all the tale of the wars that had been fought over who would have control of the pod, in fact that was one of the main reasons for the war they were now fighting.  
  
Amy also knew that as soon as she was in possession of the pod she would be the most powerful being in the history of creation.  
  
"Stop Amy!" came Willow's voice from behind her.  
  
"Why should I, you don't care about me, you showed that all those years ago." Amy spun round and crouched into a fighting position, "You just let that cat eat me!"  
  
"You crossed the line Amy!" Tara called as she moved up next to Willow.  
  
"You tried to kill all my friends." Willow said, her eyes were slowly changing color from their normal color to pure white, "I freed you from your rat form and in return you tried to kill all my friends!"  
  
Lightning shot from Willow's eyes and hit Amy in her chest, blasting her backwards into the wall.  
  
"Not bad little one." Amy snarled, her own eyes were changing color, the only difference was they were changing to black, "Mine's better."  
  
From her eyes crackled black lightning, it lanced towards Willow and Tara.  
  
"Yes, but I've got better defences." Suddenly a glowing blue wall flew up in front of Willows hand, it spread to cover her and Tara. The lightning was simply absorbed by the shield.  
  
"What the hell?" Amy said in shock. This was something she had never seen before.  
  
"Willow! Get the key!" came Dawn's call from down the hall, where she was fending off three shadowy demons.  
  
"Too late angels." Amy cried as she slammed the medallion into a recess in the nearby wall.  
  
The doors rumbled as they slowly opened, an extremely bright white light came pouring out of the gap it washed over all the combatants.  
  
"Noooooooooo!" screamed Tu'lathina as he cringed away from the light. His skin began to blister and burn.  
  
The other surrounding demons were in a similar state, their skin was starting to peel off their bodies revealing muscle then this in turn boiled and slid off to reveal bone, which began to crumble to dust.  
  
Soon the only living things remaining in the hallway were the angels, Tu'lathina and Amy.  
  
Tu'lathina was in a bad way most of his skin had peeled off, as had most of the muscles on his arms and legs.  
  
Amy meanwhile was untouched, "Yes!" she cried as she stood in front of the open doors  
  
"Amy! Stop!" came Dawn's voice.  
  
Amy spun round to see Dawn standing there with Spike and Buffy to her left and Willow and Tara to her right. All the angels were glowing with a brilliant white light, they were also completely uninjured.  
  
"You cannot go in there." Dawn said.  
  
"And you're gonna stop me how?" Amy sneered.  
  
"Buffy, Tara stay here guard Tu'lathina, Spike, Willow we're going to take care of a rat." Dawn said as she began to march slowly but surely towards Amy.  
  
Amy was pretty sure of what would happen if Dawn captured her, "You won't do anything to me."  
  
"Like you said before 'And you're gonna stop me how?' " Dawn said throwing her words back into her face.  
  
"Like this!" Amy cried as a glowing solid purple shield sprang up covering her and the doorway.  
  
Dawn stopped in amazement, "How the hell did she do that?"  
  
"The light, like it repaired and energised us it must have elevated her powers." Willow said as she carefully approached the shield and touched it, the shield gave a crackle and Willow withdrew her hand very quickly, "Ouch."  
  
"Together, we're stronger." Dawn said walking forwards, "Willow, Spike put your hands on my shoulders."  
  
The other two did as she ordered, they had a pretty good idea what she was planning. Dawn walked towards the shield, she reached out her hand and touched it once.  
  
Amy's shield began to buckle and quake, eventually it shattered fully, but Amy was no longer within the shield.  
  
The three angels glanced into the room beyond.  
  
"NO!" screamed Dawn as she saw Amy approaching the pod in the center of the room.  
  
"What is it?" Willow asked staring at it.  
  
"The power core, she cannot have it." Dawn said.  
  
She sprang off the floor and virtually flew at Amy, hitting her in the midsection knocking over. The two of them went tumbling over and over until they hit the wall on the other side of the room.  
  
Willow and Spike carefully approached the pod.  
  
"No, don't go near it." Dawn called to them as she continued to fight Amy.  
  
Spike and Willow noticed something as they approached the pod. On a table in front of the pod was a body.  
  
The body was a humanoid male, about seventy years old, with a white beard resting on his torso, he was wearing a white gown with one symbol on the right breast pocket area.  
  
The symbol was an odd one, it looked like the symbol for the Angel Directorship but it was cruder, more generalised.  
  
"Don't." came Dawn's voice as she approached them, "Don't touch him."  
  
"Why not?" Spike said.  
  
"Because he." Dawn began but she was interrupted by Amy as she tackled her sending her careening towards the body.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	11. Chapter 11 It's Just Beginning

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 11: It's Just The Beginning  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Timeless: The Demonic War - XI: It's Just The Beginning  
  
"NO!" screamed Dawn as they fell towards the man on the table.  
  
"YES!" cried Amy as she pushed them on.  
  
The went barrelling into the table which fortunately was on wheels so it rolled but the jar was enough to awaken the man on the table.  
  
The man screamed, the sound was ragged and it caused all the people in the room to clasp their hands to their ears in pain. The scream raged on and the building began to quake and dust rained down from the roof above them. The occupants of the room began, one by one, to lose consciousness, first Amy, then Spike, Willow and finally Dawn.  
  
Under the scream a low but persistent chanting could be heard, had there been anyone conscious enough to hear it. The voice was strong but not masculine, and it carried an edge to it, an edge that could only be described as ancient.  
  
The screaming man turned to the chant, but this just succeeded in the chant escalating, becoming more persistent and, if such a thing was possible, more forceful. It would have been obvious to anyone watching that the chant was taking a toll on the screaming man, he was becoming more and more distracted, he seemed to be losing his concentration.  
  
Eventually the man collapsed to the floor in a heap and the chanting immediately ceased. Buffy and Tara ran into the room, being in the hall they were spared the full force of the scream, normally they wouldn't have left a prisoner, but Tu'lathina had died a few seconds before the scream ended. Buffy ran and checked Dawn to make sure she wasn't dead, and Tara ran to Willow and did the same.  
  
"Dawn's okay, Willow?" Buffy said looking over at Tara.  
  
"Yea she's okay, do we check Amy?" Tara asked Buffy as she moved to check on Spike.  
  
"No let her be." Buffy said in disgust.  
  
"Who's he?" Tara said indicating the man who had screamed.  
  
"I don't know." Buffy said walking over to him.  
  
"He is the creator." came a female voice from a shadow on the other side of the room.  
  
Buffy and Tara spun round to look at where the voice had come from, Buffy drew her sword.  
  
"You will not need that." the voice said as her sword vanished, "I mean you no harm."  
  
"Who are you?" Buffy asked.  
  
"I am the guardian, your waking of the creator awoke me from my sleep, I was able to put the creator back into his stasis." the voice said and a figure stepped out of the shadow.  
  
The figure was tall with a shock of white hair, in fact Buffy was struck by how much she looked like all the pictures she had ever seen of Albert Einstein only without the moustache.  
  
"And who exactly is this creator?" Tara asked looking down at the unconscious man.  
  
"You know him as God, this man is the God of the Christian Bible." the guardian said.  
  
"God? This is God?" Buffy said looking between the guardian and God.  
  
"Yes." the guardian said advancing towards them.  
  
"Why does he need to sleep?" Tara asked as she watched the guardian gently pick up the body of God.  
  
"Because if he wakes he will destroy reality, his scream if not stopped could rip apart time and space." the guardian said as she placed the body back on it's table.  
  
"The doomsday weapon?" Buffy said glancing at Tara.  
  
"It wasn't the Legion Council, it was us." Tara responded.  
  
"Yes, the disruption to space/time was caused by the scream of the creator." the guardian said.  
  
"But space/time was being destroyed not just disrupted." Buffy said.  
  
"Yes, but you have altered the future, by Dawn's own interference she caused the creator to be woken slightly later than he would have." the guardian said as he walked over to Dawn.  
  
"What do you mean?" Buffy said moving to join him.  
  
"In the timeline in which space/time was destroyed God was woken five minutes earlier." the guardian said as he crouched down and placed a hand on the side of her face.  
  
"And because I interfered God was woken later and this meant that you were awake soon enough to put him back to sleep." Dawn said as her eyes flickered and opened.  
  
"Yes." the guardian said smiling at her.  
  
The guardian got up and moved to Willow were he repeated the movement of his hand on her cheek.  
  
"Oh what happened?" Willow groaned as she woke up.  
  
"Buffy will explain it." the guardian said.  
  
"What about the Angel Directorship?" Tara asked.  
  
"They will be restored, the Wraith Demon will also be restored." the guardian said as she moved to Spike and proceeded to wake him as she had done Dawn and Willow.  
  
"Why restore Amy?" Willow asked, her voice was full of anger and disgust.  
  
"Because without the darkness the light cannot exist." the guardian said as she stood, "The demonic must exist or the angelic cannot."  
  
"So this war will continued on forever?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Yes, it must." the guardian said as she walked over to Amy and placed her hand on the Wraith's forehead.  
  
Amy's form wavered and slowly vanished.  
  
"Where did you send her?" Tara asked.  
  
"Back to the Legion Council." the guardian said with a smile.  
  
The angels all smiled at that.  
  
"Have you been here since the beginning?" Spike asked with a thoughtful look on his face.  
  
"Yes, why?" the guardian said looking at him with a look in his eyes as if he knew what Spike was about to ask.  
  
"Well I have a question." Spike said and then as the guardian nodded for him to continue he said, "What's the reason behind life?"  
  
The guardian laughed as Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Tara all looked at him as if he had gone mad.  
  
"The reason for life?" the guardian asked with a sparkle in her eyes, "That is simple the reason of life is to life, it's not the destination that's important, it's the journey to reach the destination that is important."  
  
"Really?" Spike said, his face looked like a five year old's when they had just found out that there is no Santa Claus.  
  
"Yes." the guardian said, "I must go back to sleep now, I have been awake for too long as it is."  
  
"Thank you" Dawn said, "For helping"  
  
"You are welcome." the guardian said as she moved back into the shadow.  
  
"Come on." Dawn said leading the way out of the room.  
  
When outside Dawn reached and pulled out the key and the doors began to close.  
  
It was almost three days before things started to get back to normal at the Angel Directorship.  
  
Mary had been restored to full health and was back ordering lesser angels around getting them to prepare. The Directorship was throwing a celebration to honour Dawn and her comrades for their efforts in defeating Tu'lathina and the demons.  
  
Dawn was in her and Spike's quarters she had cleaned up and was waiting for Spike to finish doing the same.  
  
"Life is certainly confusing." came Spike's voice from the bathroom.  
  
"You can say that again." Dawn called back to him.  
  
"Life is certainly confusing." Dawn could hear the smile in Spike's voice.  
  
"Oh very funny." Dawn called to him, "Are you ready? The ceremony's going to start soon."  
  
"Yea, be there in a sec." Spike called.  
  
Less than ten minutes later they were in the Great Hall, a room set aside for special occasions. Mary and the rest of the Angel Directorship were seated in a line on a raised dais, most of the rest of the angel army were arrayed in front of them, lined up in their platoons. Dawn, Spike, Buffy, Willow and Tara were waiting in a side room for them to be called up to the dais.  
  
"We owe our lives and the lives of every single living being in existence past present and future, to the efforts of five brave and true warriors." Mary was saying.  
  
"That's our line." Dawn said leading the way out into the Great Hall.  
  
"Commander Dawn Summers, Captain Buffy Summers, Commander Spike, Wicca Willow Rosenberg and Wicca Tara Maclay." Mary said introducing them as the walked out onto the dais.  
  
"As a reward we, the Angel Directorship, promote you all, Buffy Summers you are hereby promoted to the rank of general." she said as she stepped up to Buffy and handed her a medallion that identified her as a general.  
  
"Spike you are promoted to the rank of colonel." as she gave a colonel medallion .  
  
"Willow Rosenberg you are promoted to the rank of sorceress." Mary gave the redhead a belt of pure silver, the mark of a sorceress.  
  
"Tara Maclay you to are promoted to the rank of sorceress." she gave Tara an identical belt.  
  
"Did you know about this?" Spike whispered to Dawn.  
  
"No." she whispered back.  
  
"And finally Dawn Summers for you skill and bravery, we hereby promote you to the highest rank outside the Directorship itself." Mary paused for effect, "We bestow upon you the rank of Warmaster." Mary presented a helmet of pure gold to Dawn, The symbol of a Warmaster.  
  
"We owe existence itself to these people." Mary said as a cheer went up from the gathered forces.  
  
THE END, for now. 


	12. Chapter 12 Old Power

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 12: Old Power  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Timeless: The Demonic War - XII: Old Power  
  
It had been more than a year since Dawn had been promoted to Warlord, and so far she was not liking it much. Over the last six months she had been plagued by administrative duties and she wasn't seeing her friends as much as she would have liked. Also she was having trouble sleeping, she was being haunted by nightmares, they seemed to be stemming from when she had become separated by a fraction of a second when Willow and Tara had moved them through time.  
  
The voice she had head that had helped her escape, she was becoming more and more obsessed with finding out who it was. With that thought fresh in her mind she was remembering other incidents both during her time as an angel and as a human. Some had helped her others had steered her down the wrong path.  
  
"Dawn?" a voice startled her out of her reprieve.  
  
She spun her chair round to see Spike standing there.  
  
"Déjà vu." Dawn said with a smile.  
  
"What?" Spike looked puzzled.  
  
"Back when we tried to leave Earth all those many years ago." Dawn reminded him.  
  
"Ahh." Spike smiled as he realised what she was talking about.  
  
"You came to talk about something?" Dawn asked leaning back in her chair.  
  
"Yes, Buffy's back from her scouting mission." Spike said.  
  
"How did it go?" Dawn asked, she had been through this routine many time now.  
  
"She found something." Spike said.  
  
This was different, most didn't find what they were looking for, "What?"  
  
"You'd better come and see for yourself." Spike said.  
  
"Okay." Dawn said getting up and leading the way out of the room.  
  
Minutes later in the Great Hall of the Angel Directorship building Dawn found herself looking a an image recording of the object Buffy had found.  
  
It appeared to be an odd shaped archway that seemed to be made of an iron like compound with scrawling writing around the edges, writing which Dawn recognised.  
  
"Shevlack?" Dawn said the name of the dead demonic language as if it were a swear word.  
  
"Yes, we believe so." Mary said as she came up behind her, "We have a team quarantining the dimension, we have no idea what could happen."  
  
"Why?" Spike asked looking at the image.  
  
"Because the Shevlack demons were AU-shifters." Mary answered.  
  
"AU-shifters?" Buffy asked, "What are they?"  
  
"Beings that can move through alternate universes, they were supposed to have died out over a billion years." Dawn answered.  
  
"How do you know all this?" Buffy asked looking at her sister.  
  
"I had a lot of time to do research." Dawn said smiling.  
  
"I'm dispatching you with your platoon to investigate." Mary said looking at Dawn, "I'll provide you with a full security detail."  
  
"When do we leave?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Right now if you are ready." Mary smiled at Dawn enthusiasm.  
  
"Spike?" Dawn looked at her lover.  
  
"Ready when you are." he smiled.  
  
"Then let's get Willow and Tara and get over there." Buffy said.  
  
Less than an hour later the three warriors and two witches emerged from an interdimensional portal. Spike and Buffy flanking Dawn and Willow and Tara bringing up the rear.  
  
"Warlord." an angel waiting at the portal entrance saluted at her.  
  
"Corporal." Dawn said in way of greeting.  
  
"If you will follow me, I'll take you to the artefact." the corporal said indicating a path off to his left.  
  
"Lead the way." Dawn said to him, then turning to look at Buffy, "How close did you get to the artefact?"  
  
"Within three feet." Buffy answered as she walked beside her.  
  
"Hmm." Dawn looked thoughtful.  
  
"What is it?" Spike asked.  
  
"Their were rumours, back when we were human." Dawn said, "That the Earth Government found a Shevlack Gateway, they called it."  
  
"Did they?" Willow asked.  
  
"Yes it looked like the one we're going to see." Dawn answered.  
  
"You saw that one? The one on Earth?" Tara almost sounded amazed.  
  
"We managed to get in at night." Spike said remembering that night, "The Earth Military lost over a thousand soldiers when they activated it."  
  
"We had best hurry then." the corporal said.  
  
"Why?" Dawn asked looking concerned.  
  
"Because my platoon commander is planning on activating it." he answered.  
  
"Then run." Dawn said as she broke into a sprint, followed closely by the others.  
  
As they neared the base camp they could hear the sound of preparations being made, and it sounded like they were almost ready.  
  
"Damn!" Dawn seemed to go into a crouch then a running stance but she wasn't touching the ground anymore. Suddenly she was no longer with them, instead she was a vanishing shape across the landscape.  
  
"What was that?" the corporal asked.  
  
"Dawn at her best." Spike answered with a smile.  
  
"Come on she's going to need our help." Buffy said as she cranked her run up a notch.  
  
The other four did the same.  
  
"Prepare to initiate power transfer." the base commander yelled.  
  
"Power ready sir." came the answer.  
  
"Monitoring stations at the ready." the commander looked to his left.  
  
"Ready and active sir." the technician called back.  
  
"Activate power transfer." the commander ordered.  
  
"Power is act ." the technician was cut off mid-sentence as a ball of yellow light erupted from the gateway.  
  
As soon as the light touched an angel they turned to dust, instantly. The ball moved outwards in all directions.  
  
Dawn approached the ball just as it stopped moving outwards.  
  
"NNNOOOOOO!" Dawn's scream could be heard for hundreds of miles.  
  
She managed to stop just feet away from the edge of the ball of light.  
  
She stayed there watching the pure chaos erupting inside the ball.  
  
"You fools!" Dawn cried, there were tears running down her face, "You have no idea what you have done"  
  
Buffy, Spike, Willow and Tara were following the corporal, when they saw the ball of light, unfortunately the corporal went barrelling into it probably in a vain attempt to rescue some of his comrades.  
  
The instant he entered he turned to dust.  
  
"Holy shit." Spike swore.  
  
"No, unholy would be more appropriate." Dawn said, her voice carried the sorrow of millions.  
  
"Why what has happened?" Tara asked.  
  
"When the gateway was activated it began to tap the geothermal power of the planet." Dawn said, "The power is pouring through the gateway."  
  
"And what will that do?" Buffy asked peering into the ball.  
  
"The power will continue to be sucked from the planet until there is nothing left." Dawn said as she slumped to the ground.  
  
"So that will only destroy this planet, when the power is exhausted the gateway will shut down won't it?" Willow asked looking down at Dawn then at the ball.  
  
"No, it will continue to draw power from the interdimensional spaces until there is nothing left." Dawn said as she buried her face in her hands and began to sob.  
  
"Dear god." breathed Willow.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	13. Chapter 13 An Interruption

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 13: An Interruption  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Timeless: The Demonic War - XIII: An Interruption  
  
"Is there anything we can do about it?" Tara asked.  
  
Dawn didn't answer she just sobbed.  
  
"Dawn!" Spike grabbed her shoulders and shook her.  
  
"I-I-I don't know." Dawn sounded lost, like a small child looking for her mother.  
  
"Is there any way to find out?" Buffy asked forcefully.  
  
"P-possibly, i-i-if there i-i-is it's at HQ." Dawn's voice was getting stronger, but she still sounded lost.  
  
"Come on we have to get you back to HQ then." Spike said picking her up and cradling her in his arms and hugging her into his chest.  
  
"Will, Tara can you open a portal here?" Buffy asked.  
  
"No we'll need to go back to the hot-spot." Willow answered.  
  
"Well then lead the way." Buffy said indicating for her to take the lead.  
  
Less than thirty minutes later They stepped out of the portal into the departure room at Angel Directorship HQ.  
  
"Why are we here?" Buffy asked looking round, "We aimed for the library."  
  
"I-I don't know, they must have a redirection spell in place." Tara answered.  
  
"Come on this way." Buffy said leading the way out of the room and down the corridor towards the library.  
  
"Halt! Identify yourselves!" came an authoritative voice from behind them.  
  
"General Buffy Summers, Colonel Spike, Sorceresses Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay and Warlord Dawn Summers." Buffy said turning to look at the lieutenant standing their pointing a crossbow at her.  
  
"I'm sorry ma'am but the library is off limits to everyone." he said, at least he had the decency to look sorry.  
  
"By order of who?" Spike asked.  
  
"The Angelic Bureau of Information on Becoming and Beginnings." the lieutenant said.  
  
"ABIBB? What reason do they have for this?" Tara asked.  
  
"I don't know ma'am, but I must insist you follow me to the holding area for a debriefing." the lieutenant said, as he did so a platoon of soldiers came marching down the hall behind the angels. All had their weapons drawn.  
  
"Dawn?" Spike whispered to his lover.  
  
"I know." she whispered back.  
  
"Get moving sir." came a demand as the point of a spear was poked into Spike's back.  
  
Suddenly they were no longer there, Dawn and Spike had disappeared.  
  
"What the hell!" cried the lieutenant, before rounding on Buffy and the others, "Where did they go?"  
  
"I honestly don't have a clue." Buffy answered, she really wished she did though, she also wished Dawn had taken them with her and Spike.  
  
"Where are we?" Spike asked Dawn.  
  
"About a minute before we arrived, and several dozen feet up the corridor." Dawn answered.  
  
"Good." Spike said with a smile.  
  
"When the lieutenant brings them down this corridor we ambush them." Dawn said.  
  
"That's a good plan." came the lieutenant's voice from behind them, "Only one problem, you forgot that you're not the only one that can have advanced knowledge."  
  
"How.?" Dawn was stumped, she had no idea how to beat an opponent that could get the drop on her and Spike with out them knowing about it.  
  
"Oh that was easy." the lieutenant's voice changed became higher and more feminine, in fact it became a voice that Dawn had heard a little over a year earlier.  
  
"Amy." she sighed, "I really think we need better security around here."  
  
"Shut up." Amy's voice was quiet but it had the weight of very black magicks behind it.  
  
Spike growled at her and began to leap at her.  
  
"Stop." Amy said holding up her hand. Spike suddenly stopped in mid leap, frozen in place, "Pain."  
  
Spike screamed in agony as every nerve and every synapse in his brain felt like it was on fire.  
  
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Dawn's voice made no attempt to hide the fact that she was very angry. Dawn had her head bowed as she was crouching on the floor. Dawn threw her head back to reveal her eyes.  
  
Even Spike was horrified at what he saw, instead of the normal pools of beautiful blue her eyes were pure black, not the black that humans call black but something more evil and more pure.  
  
"No." breathed Amy.  
  
"YES!" lightning lanced from Dawn's eyes and struck Amy in the chest, knocking her back through a wall and into the middle of the departure room, "You will not harm anyone anymore." with that Dawn's eyes sprouted more lightning this time knocking Amy back into the opening portal, but because she was being forced uncontrollably she had no way of knowing where she would end up.  
  
Amy's scream as she fell through the interdimensional spaces was horrifying, but it was cut off as the portal snapped closed behind her.  
  
"Should we get back to the others?" Spike asked as he picked himself up off the ground where he had fallen once Amy had let him go.  
  
Before Dawn could answer she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.  
  
"Dawn!" Spike called as he ran to her.  
  
"A paradox." Dawn muttered as Spike reached her, it was then that he noticed that his hands and arms had become insubstantial. He tried to pick Dawn up but found that she too had become translucent.  
  
"What's happening?" Spike asked fearfully.  
  
"We changed our immediate past and therefore we no longer exist as we are now, it's a paradox." Dawn answered as she faded from view, seconds later Spike joined her.  
  
Buffy and the gang stepped from the portal into the library less than thirty minutes after they had left the demon dimension.  
  
"Dawn, where would the information we need be stored?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Umm." Dawn looks around in confusion, "Please put me down Spike."  
  
"Sure thing." Spike said as he lowered her feet to the ground.  
  
"I think it's over here." Dawn said leading the way into the maze of bookshelves. Contained in the Angel Library is every book ever written on magic angels and demons, or at least a copy of them. It had taken an eternity to collect them.  
  
"Can I help you dears?" asked a shaky voice from behind them.  
  
The group spun round ready to attack or defend, whichever was needed, but they all relaxed when they say that it was the Keeper, the person who looked after the books.  
  
The Keeper was human, no angel could handle exposure to this much magick for more than 24 hours at the most, so the Angel Directorship had taken it upon themselves to recruit one woman in her teens, generally an orphan or a runaway to train and eventually tend the books. In exchange for their service they are granted a lifespan twice that of a normal human and are completely free of disease.  
  
"Yes we are looking for any books on the Shevlack." Dawn said.  
  
"The Shevlack? Hmm, I think that's in the EID section." the old lady said pointing off to her left.  
  
"Thanks." Dawn said leading them off in the direction indicated.  
  
"The EID section?" Buffy and Spike both asked, being warriors they tended not to spend much time in the library.  
  
"The Extinct/Irrelevant Demons section." Willow said.  
  
"There are irrelevant demons?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Demons that are so old they no longer matter." Dawn said as she led the way into a small side room with the initials 'EID' on the door.  
  
"May I help you?" a youngish woman was just inside the room, she seemed to be flipping through a card catalogue.  
  
"Yea, we were wanting books on the Shevlack." Spike said.  
  
"Over there, third shelf from the floor." the young woman said pointing at the nearest bookshelf.  
  
"Thanks." Buffy said as she moved over to the indicated shelf.  
  
A book flew out of the shelf and into her hands, the title was The Shevlack Explained.  
  
"Gee simple and to the point." Buffy said as she handed the book to Dawn.  
  
"Yea most of the older ones are." she answered.  
  
"Do you spend a lot of time in here?" Buffy looked surprised.  
  
"I don't have that much else to do these days." Dawn sounded a little sad.  
  
By this point she had the book open and the pages were flipping over on their own, eventually stopping at the page they wanted.  
  
"The Shevlack built a network of gateways across the universe and across the interdimensional spaces." Dawn read aloud, "There is a way, once a gateway is active, to shut it down."  
  
"That's good." Tara said.  
  
"However," Dawn continued, "The procedure will reveal the location of every angel in existence to the Legion Council."  
  
"That's not so good." Buffy said.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	14. Chapter 14 Power Fusion

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 14: Power Fusion  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Timeless: The Demonic War - XIV: Power Fusion  
  
"Is there any other way?" Spike asked.  
  
"Only one." Dawn did not sound happy.  
  
"What?" Buffy prodded.  
  
"Power Fusion." Dawn whispered.  
  
"You can't be serious." Willow asked in amazement.  
  
"What's Power Fusion?" Spike asked.  
  
"It's the melding of power from three powerful sources." Tara explained.  
  
"Like the Key?" Spike said.  
  
"And the power of the daughter of Sineya." came the young woman's voice.  
  
"And what would be the third power?" Spike asked.  
  
"A vampire." Tara said looking at Spike.  
  
"Similar to the one we preformed back when we took out Adam?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Got it in one." Willow said.  
  
"How do we accomplish this spell?" Spike asked.  
  
"We need to get as close to the center of the ball as possible, then we perform the spell and then the vessel, in this case myself, enters the ball and shuts down the energy flow." Dawn said reading the book.  
  
"And what happens to the 'vessel'?" Spike asked.  
  
"The vessel might survive." Dawn said, she obviously wasn't happy about that fact.  
  
"Might?" Spike certainly wasn't happy about the fact.  
  
"There is a way to ensure the survival of the vessel." the woman said as she pulled another book from the shelf.  
  
"How?" Spike asked, he obviously didn't want to loose Dawn.  
  
"Add in the power of a sorceress." the woman stated simply.  
  
Buffy said looking pointedly at Willow.  
  
"That would do it." the woman said, "This book has the ritual."  
  
"Thanks." Dawn said taking the book, "Come on we have to get back to the gateway."  
  
The gang followed Dawn out of the room leaving behind the young woman.  
  
"Good luck you're gonna need it." she murmured under her breath.  
  
The ball had increased in size, it was now almost twice the size it was when they had left.  
  
"I was afraid of this." Dawn said as she opened the books at the relevant pages.  
  
Willow and Tara took a book each, Buffy and Spike stood on either side of Dawn as Willow began chanting the spell to fuse their power, as the spell progressed a strong wind sprung up blowing leaves off nearby trees and ripping blades of grass from the ground and whipping them all round forming a sphere around the trio whose power was merging.  
  
Suddenly Willow stopped chanting and the sphere of flora fell to the ground. Spike and Buffy were gone. Dawn remained but she was different. Her clothes were gold and shimmered, as was her hair, the Slayers Blade was in her hand. This too had changed, it was now a glowing silver with a pure gold hilt.  
  
"Wow." Tara whistled as she looked Dawn from head to toe.  
  
"Magnificent is it not." Dawn's voice was no longer her own, it was a combination of the three warriors.  
  
"Time to add me into the mix." Willow said with a smile. She was definitely looking forward to this.  
  
"Stand next to Dawn." Tara instructed reading the book. She then began chanting the spell while walking round the two other women.  
  
The leaves and grass from the previous spell rose up and surrounded the three of them. Tara's chanting grew louder and louder then suddenly they stopped and the sphere of flora fell to the ground for the second time.  
  
Willow and Tara had vanished, again Dawn had remained, this time however she had grown in size she was nearly twenty percent larger. She now had a long flowing cloak hanging down her back.  
  
"Now this is interesting." came the combined voices.  
  
Inside the mind of the combined Dawn, there were five separate voices each trying to talk at the same time.  
  
"QUIET!" Dawn yelled above the rest, who promptly fell silent, "Tara, what happened?"  
  
"I think the spell slightly backfired." Tara sounded a little ashamed.  
  
"You don't have time for this." came a voice that Dawn knew. The unknown voice that had helped her in the past.  
  
"What was that?" Spike's voice asked.  
  
"A voice, it's helped me over the years." Dawn answered.  
  
"Whose voice?" Buffy asked.  
  
"I don't know." Dawn answered.  
  
"You don't have time for this." the voice repeated.  
  
"Fine, let's go shut down that gateway." Dawn said as she took control of the body.  
  
The combined Dawn moved towards the ball of light and passed straight through it.  
  
The world inside the ball was chaos, bits of earth, leaves, grass, twigs and bloody pieces of animals all whirling around. Dawn guided the body towards where she could feel the gateway.  
  
Almost ten hours later Dawn woke to find herself lying on the grass next to Buffy, Willow, Tara and Spike. The other four were still out cold so Dawn looked round, she noticed the gateway lying in pieces the land around it was scorched, as though the area had been set on fire.  
  
"Ooh what happened?" Spike groaned as he sat up.  
  
"I don't know." Dawn said crawling over to him.  
  
"That makes three of us." Buffy said as she too sat up.  
  
"Last I remember we were going towards the gateway and then.and then. nothing." Dawn said, she saw Tara and Willow beginning to stir.  
  
"Well we obviously made it to the gateway, and we obviously succeeded in shutting it down." Spike pointed out.  
  
"Ooh, let's not do that again." Willow said as she came round.  
  
"I agree." Tara said as she forced herself to sit up.  
  
"We should probably get back to HQ and report in we've been out for a while." Buffy said checking her watch.  
  
"The portal's over that way?" Spike asked pointing over his shoulder.  
  
"No that way." Dawn said pointing off to Spike's left.  
  
"I'm glad someone can sense it." Buffy said.  
  
Less than thirty minutes later they were back in the Angel Directorship HQ.  
  
"You have done existence another great service, Warlord Summers." Mary said formally.  
  
"Thank you." Dawn replied.  
  
"However there is a small side effect." Mary said as she came down from the dais to stand in front of Dawn.  
  
"What is it?" Dawn asked.  
  
"What you did has alerted a small faction of demons to your positions, they will be able to find you." Mary looked very worried, "You will need to be on guard."  
  
"I understand." Dawn said.  
  
Meanwhile on Earth, in the mid twenty eighth century, in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the town formerly known as Sunnydale a conversation was taking place that would have far reaching consequences for all the angels.  
  
"Do we have them?" asked a green skinned demon named Grick'nak asked a purple skinned demon standing next to him.  
  
"We have a lock on their location." the demon answered, his name was Kren'ikky.  
  
"Where are they?" a third demon, named Fro'hik, asked.  
  
"They're currently in the Angel Directorship HQ." Kren'ikky answered.  
  
"Tell me when they move out of that dimension." Fro'hik ordered.  
  
"What do we do once they leave?" Grick'nak asked.  
  
"We go after them and we get the target and bring her back here." Fro'hik said.  
  
"Who is the target?" Kren'ikky asked spinning his chair round to look at his boss.  
  
"Dawn Summers." Fro'hik said.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	15. Chapter 15 A Brief Interlude

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 15: A Brief Interlude  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Timeless: The Demonic War - XV: A Brief Interlude  
  
"So what do you want to do now that we have some time off?" Spike called to Dawn.  
  
They were in their quarters at the Angel Directorship HQ, Mary had given them all time off after the hectic adventures they'd had recently.  
  
"We could have a picnic." Dawn suggested from the bedroom where she was getting dressed.  
  
"Anywhere specific in mind?" Spike asked with a smile.  
  
"Earth." Dawn answered instantly.  
  
"Had a feeling you'd say that." Spike told her.  
  
"How about 2001?" Dawn asked as she came to the doorway.  
  
"2001? What do you mean?" Spike looked a bit confused.  
  
"I still have the ability to move through time, remember." Dawn pointed out.  
  
"Actually I had forgotten." Spike admitted.  
  
"You ass." Dawn said as she walked over and sat in Spike's lap. Dawn placed her arms around his neck and planted an extremely passionate kiss on his lips.  
  
"And you love me for it." Spike said pulling away from her slightly.  
  
"Damn straight." Dawn whispered in his ear.  
  
They both laughed, before disentangling themselves. Dawn got up and headed to the kitchen to get together the ingredients for a picnic.  
  
"So where do you want to go?" Dawn called.  
  
"How 'bout the late nineteenth century?" Spike called back.  
  
"Why?" Dawn asked sticking her head into the living room area.  
  
"Because out in the country it was almost as beautiful as you." Spike said smiling at her.  
  
"Oh of course, you grew up in that time, didn't you?" Dawn said as she withdrew her head back into the kitchen.  
  
"Yup." Spike sat back remembering the days of his youth.  
  
Spike remembered sitting off the side of what he had come to think of as *the* party, the last one he went to as a human. He remembered the poetry he had been writing, and the object of that poetry, Cecily Addams.  
  
My heart expands 'tis grown a bulge in it inspired by your beauty, effulgent  
  
He had ended up leaving the party with a very angry feeling, he had ripped up most of his poetry as he stormed through the London streets. Not looking where he had been going he had bumped into a figure he later found out was Angelus.  
  
A matter of minutes later his beloved Drusilla had found him and given him a new perspective on life. As dinner.  
  
The thought of Dru made him remember what she had seen in him.  
  
"Your wealth lies here... and here. In the spirit and... imagination. You walk in worlds the others can't begin to imagine." she had said.  
  
Then he remembered what Dawn had seen in him.  
  
"I feel safe with you." Dawn had said. Spike, at the time, demanded that she take it back, but she had elaborated on her statement, "I, I mean, you have that whole . superpower thing, and . you're just as tough as Buffy is, maybe tougher."  
  
Of course Dawn had grown to love him once it was found that she wasn't ageing.  
  
"Penny for them." Dawn said setting the picnic basket down near the door and walking over to him.  
  
"Just thinking about the past." Spike said with a sad smile.  
  
"Ooh that's worth more than a penny." Dawn said with a smile.  
  
"Don't I know it." Spike retorted.  
  
"Come on, let's go live some of that past." Dawn said pulling him to his feet, "1875?"  
  
"Sounds good to me." Spike smiled as he kissed her.  
  
"Where is she?" Fro'hik asked as he entered the room he had set aside for monitoring the target.  
  
"Still at the Angel Direct." Kren'ikky started.  
  
"What?" Fro'hik demanded.  
  
"They're on the move." Kren'ikky answered as he began waving his hands over the monitoring equipment.  
  
The magical tracing equipment sprang into action whirring and humming as it traced Dawn's movements.  
  
"She's moving through time." Grick'nak said.  
  
"Can we follow?" Fro'hik asked.  
  
"Not at the moment, she's going too far backwards." Grick'nak said.  
  
"Damn!" Fro'hik swore.  
  
"So this is where you spend your misbegotten youth." Dawn said looking round.  
  
They had arrived in the outskirts of London in late April 1875, the air carried the scent of flowers from the woods near where they were walking. There were very few people around, and the few that there were could not see the duo as they walked off towards a clearing in the woods. Spike had once had a fling there when he was much younger.  
  
"Well yea it was actually." Spike said looking round and reminiscing.  
  
He had been sixteen when he had met a young woman by the name of Serendipity, he had romanced her, wrote much poetry about her. She had looked much like Dawn, in fact he sometimes thought of Dawn as the reincarnation, physically speaking, of Serendipity.  
  
They had spent many spring afternoons in the clearing they were now heading towards, Serendipity had been one of the few women who liked him for what he was, not his parents and their wealth, who had owned one of the major shipping lines. Of course by the time he was twenty his parents were almost broke, they had lost the shipping line, thanks to his fathers gambling problem.  
  
He hadn't realised at the time but Serendipity had actually been a demon, Spike had meet her again in the mid twentieth century, she had turned out to be a Grick demon.  
  
Spike sighed.  
  
"Problem?" Dawn asked, they were, by this point, laying out the picnic and utensils.  
  
"No, just a little nostalgic." Spike answered.  
  
"Oh." Dawn said as she passed him a plate.  
  
"Thanks." Spike said taking it.  
  
Almost four hours later they were laying in the grass watching the clouds float across the sky.  
  
"This is nice." Dawn said, she had her head resting against his shoulder.  
  
"I haven't had this good a time since I was in my teens." Spike said.  
  
"You know I don't think I know what your human name was." Dawn said a little sleepily.  
  
"Well that's all in the past." Spike said, "I try not to think about it much, there's no sense dwelling on the past."  
  
"Of course when you can relive it that sentence has absolutely no meaning." Dawn said with a huge smile.  
  
"Oooh, come here you." Spike smiled as he pulled Dawn into a passionate embrace.  
  
The sun was just starting to set when Spike suggested that they should head back to the Angel Directorship.  
  
Dawn took hold of Spike's hand and began to move them back to what they considered the present.  
  
"Fro'hik! They're on the move, heading back to the present." Grick'nak called to his boss.  
  
"Good prepare the scoop." Fro'hik said with joy.  
  
"The scoop?" Kren'ikky, by far the dumbest of the trio, asked.  
  
"It'll pull her here to us." Fro'hik explained.  
  
Dawn and Spike had reached the early twenty first century, when suddenly Dawn vanished and Spike stopped moving.  
  
"Dawn?" Spike called. He looked round and saw that he was in Sunnydale, in fact he was near his crypt, "Oh, oh, this could be a problem."  
  
"Wot the 'ell." came Spike's voice from behind Spike.  
  
Spike spun round to see himself, "Damn!"  
  
"Now this is unreal." the Spike from the past said.  
  
"Tell me about it." the Spike from the future said.  
  
"We better go see Rupert." the Spike from the past said.  
  
"Good idea." the Spike from the future said.  
  
To Be Continued. 


	16. Chapter 16 Nothing Lasts Forever

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 16: Nothing Lasts Forever  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
Author's note. This episode of Timeless has a shocking ending, so be warned it may upset some younger viewers.  
  
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Timeless: The Demonic War - 16: Nothing Lasts Forever  
  
"So you're from the future?" Giles was trying to get the facts straight in his head.  
  
"Yes, and I can't tell you anything more than that." future Spike said. He and his past self were seated at the table in the Magic Box.  
  
"So why are you here?" Buffy asked.  
  
"I can't tell you, but I can tell you that I really need to use your phone." future Spike said.  
  
"Okay, local call?" Giles said indicating the phone.  
  
"No, collect to England." future Spike said getting up and walking over to the phone, he picked it up and began dialling. The number was one Giles had never seen before.  
  
"Who are you ringing?" Giles asked.  
  
"Someone to help." future Spike said, before saying into the phone, "Merlin, please."  
  
"Merlin? As in King Arthur and Camelot?" Buffy asked coming up behind him.  
  
"It's Colonel Spike, I need your help." future Spike said into the receiver, "Can you come here? ... Okay I'll be waiting."  
  
"Merlin's coming here? Now?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Yes, in fact he should be walking through that door about now." as future Spike said the last word the door to the store opened and a bearded man walked in.  
  
"Spike it has been a while." Merlin said as he approached the future Spike and shook his hand.  
  
"My wife and I were travelling back to our time when she vanished and I got stuck here, so I need you to open a portal to my present and to the HQ." future Spike was having to be fairly vague so as to keep Dawn's future a secret as much as possible.  
  
"I can do that, I will need to be at a psychic hot spot." Merlin answered.  
  
"Okay." Giles said, "Tara and Willow can find it for you."  
  
Less than thirty minutes later Spike and Merlin were standing around a small stone circle in the woods just outside Sunnydale.  
  
Merlin was chanting and a portal was forming in the center of the circle.  
  
"The portal is now linked to your time, you can go through whenever you want." Merlin said as he stopped chanting and the portal opened fully.  
  
"Thank you, and you will remember the third principle commandment?" Spike asked him. He was referring to the standing order that all mortals who find out about the angels and their struggle have their memories blocked.  
  
"I will not, would you like to know what has happened to your 'wife'?" Merlin said, he had a funny look on his face.  
  
"What happened?" Spike asked.  
  
"She was kidnapped by an insane demon using a scoop." Merlin said.  
  
"A scoop?" Spike looked intrigued.  
  
"A machine that takes someone out of interdimensional space." Merlin told him.  
  
"Okay, anymore information?" Spike asked as he moved towards the portal  
  
"No, sorry, be careful." Merlin called as Spike leapt through the portal.  
  
Dawn opened her eyes to find that it was just as dark as when they were closed, she tried to move but found that with the exception of her head she couldn't move, "Where am I?" she called.  
  
"Locked in a machine that will when triggered kill all the angels." came Fro'hik's happy voice.  
  
"What? How?" Dawn asked, she was scared as hell but she knew she had to find out all the information she could.  
  
"It will force all the angels to revert to their original mortal forms." Fro'hik said as he turned on the light. Dawn found that she was surrounded by a tangle of wires and plates of metal and circuit boards, "The force of it will kill most of the angels, and what do you know, there's no limit to the range of the machine, but you ... you it will kill by sucking you life force and using it to power itself."  
  
"You're insane!" Dawn cried. It seemed to her that Fro'hik was taking extreme pleasure in telling her what was going to happen.  
  
"Why thank you." Fro'hik said with a smile that bordered on maniacal, and on seeing her face he let loose a laugh that would defiantly be described as maniacal.  
  
Spike fell from the portal into the middle of the great hall in the Angel Directorship HQ.  
  
"Spike? Where's Dawn?" Mary asked standing up and walking over to help Spike up.  
  
"Kidnapped, snatched in the middle of time travelling." Spike told her, he noticed Buffy, Willow and Tara coming up behind Mary, Buffy looked so worried it almost broke Spike's heart.  
  
"Using a scoop?" Mary asked.  
  
"according to Merlin, yea." Spike answered.  
  
"Then we have a chance." Mary told them, "A scoop leaves a traceable energy signature." Mary lead the way to the operations room.  
  
Three hours later with the specific location of the origin of the scoop, Spike, Buffy, Willow and Tara were preparing to leave on a rescue mission.  
  
"Take care whoever snatched Dawn knows what they're doing." Mary warned them as they stepped towards the portal.  
  
"Will do." Buffy said as she stepped through beside Spike and followed by the two witches.  
  
"It's time to start the fireworks." Fro'hik said as he walked over to a control panel.  
  
"Don't please." Dawn pleaded.  
  
"No chance sweetheart." Fro'hik retorted as he threw a switch. The machine started to rumble, low at first but it began to grow.  
  
"Stop right there!" came Spike's voice from behind him.  
  
"Yea well, I'd turn it off if I could." Fro'hik laughed, "But ya see there's no way to turn it off."  
  
"Spike, get out of here now!" cried Dawn.  
  
"Not without you!" Spike called back.  
  
Suddenly the rumbling of the machine reached a certain point then changed pitch slightly. Dawn felt a pain deep in her stomach, she saw the other four angels double over in pain.  
  
"Feel my wrath angel scum!" laughed Fro'hik loudly, "Soon the machine will force all the other angels back into their mortal bodies."  
  
"That'll kill them!" Dawn cried, "Spike, you have to try and destroy the machine!"  
  
Spike began moving slowly towards the control panel, Fro'hik saw him coming and brought both his hand down onto Spike's neck, knocking him unconscious.  
  
The machine continued its low rumbling as the four angels writhed in pain. Other angels throughout time and space were dieing as the machine forced them back into their human bodies, their souls couldn't handle the pressure, they simply stopped working and vanished. When one becomes an angel the soul is transmutated and becomes the body in which they live, when the machine forced the angels back to their mortal bodies the soul is forced back into it's original shell. The soul cannot transmutated a second time, so when the newly mortal angels die the soul is lost forever.  
  
Buffy heard a roar as Grick'nak and Kren'ikky crashed through the roof from the room above and rushed at her, Spike was still out cold and thus couldn't get out of the way of the falling stone from the roof. Buffy barely managed to get her arm up to block when a shake of the floor caused her to collapse onto the floor, and in the split second it took for Grick'nak's spiked arm to move towards her she realised that the building was slowly collapsing. Grick'nak's arm came smashing down and stabbed into Buffy's chest.  
  
She felt her ribs crack and one puncture her lung and the other tore into her heart, she felt the pain as she began to bleed into her chest cavity. She looked at Dawn and tried to say she was sorry, but found she had no voice to do so. Buffy saw in Dawn's eyes that she knew and she understood.  
  
Willow and Tara weren't fairing too well either, Kren'ikky had them and he was using them as if they were drumsticks and banging their heads on the concrete floor of the room they were in. At least they had lost consciousness so they would feel less pain.  
  
Spike had come round to find that he was trapped underneath a large block of stone that had fallen from the ceiling, he knew that if he didn't get out from under it soon that sunlight that was shining through would be giving him a real nice tan.  
  
Spike glanced over at Dawn, "I love you."  
  
Spike saw Dawn's lips move as she mouthed the words back at him, before she lost consciousness, he could feel, actually feel, her heart slow and her breathing becoming more and more irregular.  
  
Within seconds Dawn had stopped breathing altogether and a few seconds after that her heart stopped beating.  
  
"Leave them and let's go." Fro'hik yelled as he rushed to open the door, "This whole building's gonna come down on top of us."  
  
The two larger demons looked at him then at each other, "Let's go then." Grick'nak said.  
  
Behind them they left Spike still trapped and about to become a rather worn pile of dust, Buffy bleeding internally, her life force slowly seeping away, Willow and Tara well and truly out cold and in immanent danger of being crushed by falling stone from the ceiling and Dawn with no heartbeat and not breath still hooked up to the machine as it sucked every last drop of life from her and the Key buried deep within her form.  
  
THE END ??????  
  
Is this the end for our heroes???? 


	17. Chapter 17 At Peace

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 17: At Peace  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Timeless: The Demonic War - 17: At Peace  
  
Dawn was at peace, she hadn't felt this calm and peaceful since before she found out she was the Key. She looked down and saw her body still trapped in the machine, she saw her lover, Spike, in danger of becoming a pile of dust, she saw her sister drifting in and out of consciousness, she saw Willow and Tara lying in danger of being crushed.  
  
"I'm sorry." Dawn said even though she was sure none of them could hear her, "I wasn't strong enough to fight him, I'm sorry."  
  
"I'm right here!" Dawn heard a voice off to her left.  
  
She turned, or at least she had the sensation of turning, and saw a form standing there. The form became clearer and she realised that it was her, from when she had become slightly displaced in time.  
  
Dawn watched as her past self walked towards a group of shadowy figures, who turned out to be Spike, Buffy, Willow and Tara, surrounded by an area of scenery. She watched as her past self stuck her hand through Spike's torso.  
  
She could see the other's mouths moving but she could hear nothing. She saw Spike say something with a smile then saw Buffy give her a withering look. Then she saw Willow cup her hands round her mouth and shout something.  
  
It took Dawn a moment to realise that Willow had just called, "Dawn! If you can hear me then use your powers bring yourself into phase with us."  
  
Dawn heard her past self say, "How?"  
  
Dawn managed to pull herself closer. She knew what her past self had to do.  
  
"Concentrate on yourself, make your body real." she said to her past self.  
  
"Who are you?" the past Dawn asked looking around and failing to see Dawn.  
  
"She can hear me but she can't see me, I can't let her know it's me." Dawn thought, out loud she just repeated, "Concentrate on yourself, make your body real."  
  
"Yea, yea." the past Dawn said, a look of concentration came over her face and she slowly faded from view followed a fraction of a second later the rest of the landscape followed.  
  
Dawn looked around, once again she felt at peace, she floated there for what seemed like days just lying there.  
  
After what seemed like ten days Dawn heard a cacophony of voices, she concentrated and she was able to discern five separate voices. Buffy's, Willow's, Spike's, Tara's and her own.  
  
Then she heard her own voice call out, "QUIET! Tara, what happened?"  
  
Suddenly she knew what she was experiencing, "I'm the mysterious voice that's helped me out over the years."  
  
"I think the spell slightly backfired." Dawn heard Tara say.  
  
"You don't have time for this." Dawn called to them.  
  
"What was that?" Spike's voice asked.  
  
"A voice, it's helped me over the years." the past Dawn answered.  
  
"Whose voice?" Buffy asked.  
  
"I don't know." the past Dawn answered.  
  
"You don't have time for this." Dawn repeated.  
  
"Fine, let's go shut down that gateway." Dawn said as she took control of the body.  
  
Dawn felt the presence of her four friends and her past self move away as they went to stop the gateway.  
  
"They succeed, thanks to me." Dawn muttered to herself.  
  
Dawn began moving herself through time giving her past selves a helping hand when and where they needed it.  
  
Once she had finished, Dawn again felt at peace, she rested for what seemed like years before a thought entered her mind.  
  
"What am I? I can't be a soul because I was an angel and then I was forced back into a mortal body." Dawn thought to herself, "My soul should have been destroyed, so how am I alive, or whatever it is that I am."  
  
Dawn floated on for a time just thinking about that question, and remembering...  
  
"Is this blood?" Dawn asked in a dazed state.  
  
Joyce and Giles both turned to look at Dawn.  
  
"Dawn!" cried Buffy. "Oh, baby." Joyce cried as she and Buffy rushed over to her.  
  
"What did you do?!" Buffy demanded. "This is blood, isn't it? It can't be me. I'm not a key." Dawn saw Buffy's shocked look, "I'm not a thing." "Oh, sweetie, no. Wha-what is this all about?" Joyce asked. "What am I?" Dawn asked grimly, before tears began forming in her eyes, "Am I real? Am I anything?"  
  
"The key is not directly described in any known literature, but all research indicates an energy matrix vibrating at a dimensional frequency beyond normal human perception. Only those outside reality can see the key's true nature." Dawn read from Giles notes, "Outside reality. What's that mean?"  
  
"Mm. Second-sight blokes, mostly." Spike answered as he put a cigarette in his mouth, "Or even just your run-of-the-mill lunatics."  
  
Spike takes his seat beside Dawn as she began to get an expression of revelation.  
  
Dawn remembered the crazed security guard at the hospital.  
  
"There!" he said pointing at Dawn, "There's no one in there."  
  
And then the crazy man outside the Magic Box, "I know what you are." he had said.  
  
"What else does it say about this key? Is it made out of gold? Maybe we can hock it, split the take." Spike interrupted her thoughts.  
  
"Um," Dawn read from the book, "The key is also susceptible to necromanced animal detection, particularly those of canine or serpent construct."  
  
Dawn remembered the snake-creature Glory had sent, as Spike took the book from her.  
  
Spike frowned at the book, " 'The monks possessed the ability to transform energy, bend reality.' Blah, blah, blah." Spike looked at Dawn, "Good lord, Giles writes as dull as he talks, doesn't he?" then back to the book, " 'They started work. But the Council ... has suggested ... to us that they were interrupted. Presumably by ... Glory.' " Dawn continued to look into the distance, " 'They obviously did manage to accomplish the taste ... accomplish the task. They had to be certain the Slayer would protect it with her life. So they sent the key to her ... in human form. In the form of a sister."  
  
Dawn had a look of shock on her face  
  
"Huh! I guess that's you, nibblet." Spike said looking at her.  
  
"What if my soul isn't quite the same as a normal one?" Dawn asked herself.  
  
"It isn't." came a booming voice, "And I was wondering how long it would take you to realise that."  
  
"Who are you?" Dawn asked looking round but not seeing anything.  
  
"You don't recognise your own sister?" came the voice again, this time however it was less booming and more like the voice Dawn knew was her sister's.  
  
"Buffy?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Yes." came Buffy's voice as Dawn saw a form beginning to take shape right in front of her.  
  
"How? Why?" Dawn asked.  
  
"When the monks made you, they took parts of me and made them into you." Buffy said.  
  
"We share souls?" Dawn asked still trying to grasp the concept.  
  
"Not quite." Buffy said, "Our souls are joined, like twins who are born sharing internal organs, we are one, yet we are two.."  
  
"So what does that mean?" Dawn asked.  
  
"It means that when we are together we can do anything." Buffy said.  
  
"We can save all the angels?" Dawn asked.  
  
"If we want." Buffy said.  
  
"Do we want?" Dawn asked.  
  
"I do, what about you?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Definitely." Dawn said smiling.  
  
"Then let's go." Buffy said.  
  
"Okay, just one small question." Dawn said.  
  
"What?" Buffy asked.  
  
"How?" Dawn asked looking round, "I can't se any doors or roads or paths or anything."  
  
Buffy laughed and placed a hand on Dawn's cheek, "Through love."  
  
Dawn felt the love emanating from somewhere deep within Buffy, she grasped it and she pulled it to her. It was then that Dawn noticed a glowing rectangle about the size of a door.  
  
Buffy stepped towards it, then turned and raised an eyebrow at Dawn.  
  
Dawn stepped through the door, not knowing what she was getting herself into.  
  
To Be Continued... 


	18. Chapter 18 Afterdeath

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 18: Afterdeath  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Timeless: The Demonic War - 18: Afterdeath  
  
"Leave them and let's go." Fro'hik yelled as he rushed to open the door, "This whole building's gonna come down on top of us."  
  
The two larger demons looked at him then at each other, "Let's go then." Grick'nak said.  
  
Behind them they left Spike still trapped and about to become a rather worn pile of dust, Buffy bleeding internally, her life force slowly seeping away, Willow and Tara well and truly out cold and in immanent danger of being crushed by falling stone from the ceiling and Dawn with no heartbeat and not breath still hooked up to the machine as it sucked every last drop of life from her and the Key buried deep within her for.  
  
Suddenly Dawn's form began to glow with a bright white light. Spike found that it was too bright for his eyes so he was forced to look away, it was at this point he noticed that Buffy's body was also glowing with the same light as Dawn's.  
  
Dawn screamed. Spike twisted back to look at her. The sound was horrific. But it was enough to break the bonds that held her.  
  
"Buffy!" Dawn cried as she stepped out of the machine. Spike managed to look back at the slayer, who was by this point standing.  
  
"Dawn!" Buffy called back, "We have to get the others out of here! Now!"  
  
"Grab the other side of this." Dawn said indicating the stone that pinned Spike.  
  
Spike found himself fascinated by the fact that both were somehow still alive, and both were still somewhat glowing.  
  
Buffy and Dawn, working together, moved the stone as if it weighed less than half what it actually did.  
  
"Can you get up?" Dawn asked Spike.  
  
"Yea, I think so." Spike answered as he flexed his legs.  
  
"Then get up and help us with Willow and Tara." Buffy almost snapped.  
  
"Okay fine, ignore my suffering." Spike retorted as he got to his feet.  
  
"We have no time for this." Dawn said as she moved to check on Tara.  
  
"Spike, you in the middle, Dawn help Tara up and I'll help Willow." Buffy said as they started to get the unconscious witches to their feet, "Dawn?"  
  
As if through telepathy Dawn knew what Buffy was thinking, "Dawn we need to get them to a hospital, they're mortal now." Dawn could actually feel her love for Willow and her fear of losing her, and losing Dawn.  
  
Dawn began to concentrate on opening a portal, it always took a lot more effort to open one where there wasn't a hot spot. Suddenly Dawn found that it was easier. She had help. She had her sister. She had Buffy.  
  
The portal sprang to life and Dawn and Buffy bundled the other three through.  
  
Dawn felt her sister's thoughts as to where they were going. "We're going to the Angel Directorship, they have the best hospital facilities in the entire timeline." Dawn thought to herself, but she knew that Buffy had the same thought, as if any thought Dawn, herself, had was duplicated in her sister's mind. Maybe it was, she thought, we share souls maybe we share more than that.  
  
The trip took less than a quarter of the time it usually took, so Buffy and Dawn weren't ready when the popped out into the hospital wing of the Angel Directorship.  
  
"Doctor!" called Buffy.  
  
"They'll all be dead or dying." Dawn pointed out.  
  
"Can you work the regen pools?" Buffy looked quizzically at her sister.  
  
"Yes." Dawn answered as she moved over to the large pool full of pale purple liquid, "Place them in it."  
  
Buffy moved to do as her sister ordered. Once Spike, and the two witches were fully submerged, Dawn moved over to the console and turned the healing waves on.  
  
"They will need at least another four days in there to be back to full health." Dawn told Buffy, "Do you remember what happened?"  
  
"Yes, we died." Buffy simply answered.  
  
"Do you remember the dark place, where we met?" Dawn asked, she sounded a little frustrated at Buffy's answer.  
  
"Yes." Buffy answered warmly, looking at her sister with great love and understanding.  
  
Dawn realised that she could feel Buffy's love for her and as an undercurrent she could feel her worry over Willow and Tara.  
  
"Can you...?" Dawn didn't need to finish the question, Buffy was already nodding as she was walking towards Dawn.  
  
When Buffy reached Dawn she placed a hand on her right cheek, Dawn knew that she was meant to mirror the movement. Warmth rushed up her arm as soon as her skin touched her sisters.  
  
Buffy too could feel the warmth rushing up her own arm, she closed her eyes and knew that Dawn was doing the same, she whispered, "I love you."  
  
"And I you." Dawn whispered back.  
  
That was enough, the two sisters fell into each others arms, they held each other in an embrace so loving it glowed.  
  
In fact their bodies really did glow, the light moved as though liquid, it flowed through the corridors of the Angel Directorship, washing over the dead bodies of the angels.  
  
When it reached the portal room, all the portals opened at the same time and the light flowed through them to wash over all the world where angels had died as a result of the Fro'hik's machine.  
  
The light passed over countless demons, who noticed nothing, as did the other life forms it passed over. Angel's throughout existence who had died or were dieing began to slowly come back to life.  
  
"Buffy?" Dawn whispered into her sister's ear.  
  
"Mmm?" Buffy responded, she had her head resting on Dawn's shoulder.  
  
"What's happening?" Dawn asked.  
  
"There is a bond between us, the bond has provided the conduit for the repair of the timeline." Buffy murmured, she sounded as if she were almost asleep.  
  
"We are truly sisters?" Dawn asked.  
  
"No, we are more than sisters." Buffy pulled back to look into Dawn's sparkling spectrum blue eyes.  
  
Dawn looked deep into Buffy's eyes, she saw reflected there her own face. In some detached part of her mind Dawn noted that Buffy's eyes were no longer the colour they were when she was alive, they were now a deep blue, almost what one would call ocean blue.  
  
"We are soul mates." Buffy said, still looking into Dawn's eyes.  
  
Suddenly the light flared to bright for them to keep their eyes open, both Buffy and Dawn screwed their eyes shut.  
  
When Buffy could open her eyes again she found that Dawn was no longer had the body of a 25 year old, she one again had the body of a innocent 14 year old.  
  
"W-what?" was all Dawn could say.  
  
"Love. It can turn back time." came an echoing voice.  
  
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked looking round to see where the voice came from.  
  
"Your love for each other has turned back time, you are now what you once were." the voice answered.  
  
"Umm who are you?" Dawn asked looking round.  
  
"This is the voice of the Powers That Be." the voice answered.  
  
"You're kidding." exclaimed Buffy.  
  
"No." the voice said, "You have saved existence more times than any other beings in creation."  
  
"Yes so?" Buffy asked.  
  
"It has been decided to allow you and your sister to experience the world you have helped save." the voice said.  
  
"You mean...?" Dawn started.  
  
"You are both mortal you have the rest of your lives to experience the world around you." the voice interrupted.  
  
"But the war...?" Buffy didn't finish the sentence.  
  
"Will be fought by others." the voice told them, "For now you fight is over."  
  
"We can go home?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Yes, we are blocking your memories of the angels and the demonic war." the voice said.  
  
"Why?" Buffy demanded.  
  
"We cannot allow you to carry the knowledge into the world, it would become corrosive." the voice said.  
  
"But..." Dawn started.  
  
"Be gone!" the voice cried.  
  
There was a flash and suddenly...  
  
Buffy was walking slowly through her darkened basement, She looks around cautiously, listening to the sounds of dripping water. Buffy frowned and continued looking around.  
  
Buffy noticed something and walks across the basement and stares upward, "So. We meet at last, Mister Drippy."  
  
The pipe Buffy's looking at is dripping water as she raises the wrench she's carrying, climbed up on a box and begins working on the pipe.  
  
Dawn appeared from the room above, she walks halfway down the stairs and sat on them, "Want me to call a plumber?"  
  
"No." Buffy said turning the wrench with great effort.  
  
"You sure?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Yes." Buffy answered  
  
"Got the number." Dawn said holding up the cordless phone.  
  
Buffy turned to face Dawn, and exasperatedly said, "Dawn, I'm on it, okay?"  
  
Dawn shrugged sceptically as Buffy gave the pipe one last twist. The dripping stopped.  
  
"Ah." Buffy said smiling with satisfaction.  
  
The pipes issue a groan before suddenly spraying water from a dozen different places all over the basement. Several jets of water sprayed directly on Dawn, soaking her. Dawn shrieked and ran up the stairs.  
  
Buffy stood still, "There. All better." she sighed.  
  
The End (and I mean it this time.) 


	19. Chapter 19 Afterdeath Error

Title -Timeless: The Demonic War: 18: Afterdeath (Alternate Ending)  
  
Author -The Sorcerer Bard (thesorcererbard@I-am-the-key.com)  
  
Pairing - Spike and Dawn  
  
Disclaimer - What I don't own. Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything related to them. What I do own. Everything not owned by the above mentioned people / companies is owned by me but you may use any of it as long as you give me credit.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------  
  
Timeless: The Demonic War - 18: Afterdeath  
  
"Leave them and let's go." Fro'hik yelled as he rushed to open the door, "This whole building's gonna come down on top of us."  
  
The two larger demons looked at him then at each other, "Let's go then." Grick'nak said.  
  
Behind them they left Spike still trapped and about to become a rather worn pile of dust, Buffy bleeding internally, her life force slowly seeping away, Willow and Tara well and truly out cold and in immanent danger of being crushed by falling stone from the ceiling and Dawn with no heartbeat and not breath still hooked up to the machine as it sucked every last drop of life from her and the Key buried deep within her for.  
  
Suddenly Dawn's form began to glow with a bright white light. Spike found that it was too bright for his eyes so he was forced to look away, it was at this point he noticed that Buffy's body was also glowing with the same light as Dawn's.  
  
Dawn screamed. Spike twisted back to look at her. The sound was horrific. But it was enough to break the bonds that held her.  
  
"Buffy!" Dawn cried as she stepped out of the machine. Spike managed to look back at the slayer, who was by this point standing.  
  
"Dawn!" Buffy called back, "We have to get the others out of here! Now!"  
  
"Grab the other side of this." Dawn said indicating the stone that pinned Spike.  
  
Spike found himself fascinated by the fact that both were somehow still alive, and both were still somewhat glowing.  
  
Buffy and Dawn, working together, moved the stone as if it weighed less than half what it actually did.  
  
"Can you get up?" Dawn asked Spike.  
  
"Yea, I think so." Spike answered as he flexed his legs.  
  
"Then get up and help us with Willow and Tara." Buffy almost snapped.  
  
"Okay fine, ignore my suffering." Spike retorted as he got to his feet.  
  
"We have no time for this." Dawn said as she moved to check on Tara.  
  
"Spike, you in the middle, Dawn help Tara up and I'll help Willow." Buffy said as they started to get the unconscious witches to their feet, "Dawn?"  
  
As if through telepathy Dawn knew what Buffy was thinking, "Dawn we need to get them to a hospital, they're mortal now." Dawn could actually feel her love for Willow and her fear of losing her, and losing Dawn.  
  
Dawn began to concentrate on opening a portal, it always took a lot more effort to open one where there wasn't a hot spot. Suddenly Dawn found that it was easier. She had help. She had her sister. She had Buffy.  
  
The portal sprang to life and Dawn and Buffy bundled the other three through.  
  
Dawn felt her sister's thoughts as to where they were going. "We're going to the Angel Directorship, they have the best hospital facilities in the entire timeline." Dawn thought to herself, but she knew that Buffy had the same thought, as if any thought Dawn, herself, had was duplicated in her sister's mind. Maybe it was, she thought, we share souls maybe we share more than that.  
  
The trip took less than a quarter of the time it usually took, so Buffy and Dawn weren't ready when the popped out into the hospital wing of the Angel Directorship.  
  
"Doctor!" called Buffy.  
  
"They'll all be dead or dying." Dawn pointed out.  
  
"Can you work the regen pools?" Buffy looked quizzically at her sister.  
  
"Yes." Dawn answered as she moved over to the large pool full of pale purple liquid, "Place them in it."  
  
Buffy moved to do as her sister ordered. Once Spike, and the two witches were fully submerged, Dawn moved over to the console and turned the healing waves on.  
  
"They will need at least another four days in there to be back to full health." Dawn told Buffy, "Do you remember what happened?"  
  
"Yes, we died." Buffy simply answered.  
  
"Do you remember the dark place, where we met?" Dawn asked, she sounded a little frustrated at Buffy's answer.  
  
"Yes." Buffy answered warmly, looking at her sister with great love and understanding.  
  
Dawn realised that she could feel Buffy's love for her and as an undercurrent she could feel her worry over Willow and Tara.  
  
"Can you...?" Dawn didn't need to finish the question, Buffy was already nodding as she was walking towards Dawn.  
  
When Buffy reached Dawn she placed a hand on her right cheek, Dawn knew that she was meant to mirror the movement. Warmth rushed up her arm as soon as her skin touched her sisters.  
  
Buffy too could feel the warmth rushing up her own arm, she closed her eyes and knew that Dawn was doing the same, she whispered, "I love you."  
  
"And I you." Dawn whispered back.  
  
That was enough, the two sisters fell into each others arms, they held each other in an embrace so loving it glowed.  
  
In fact their bodies really did glow, the light moved as though liquid, it flowed through the corridors of the Angel Directorship, washing over the dead bodies of the angels.  
  
When it reached the portal room, all the portals opened at the same time and the light flowed through them to wash over all the world where angels had died as a result of the Fro'hik's machine.  
  
The light passed over countless demons, who noticed nothing, as did the other life forms it passed over. Angel's throughout existence who had died or were dieing began to slowly come back to life.  
  
"Buffy?" Dawn whispered into her sister's ear.  
  
"Mmm?" Buffy responded, she had her head resting on Dawn's shoulder.  
  
"What's happening?" Dawn asked.  
  
"There is a bond between us, the bond has provided the conduit for the repair of the timeline." Buffy murmured, she sounded as if she were almost asleep.  
  
"We are truly sisters?" Dawn asked.  
  
"No, we are more than sisters." Buffy pulled back to look into Dawn's sparkling spectrum blue eyes.  
  
Dawn looked deep into Buffy's eyes, she saw reflected there her own face. In some detached part of her mind Dawn noted that Buffy's eyes were no longer the colour they were when she was alive, they were now a deep blue, almost what one would call ocean blue.  
  
"We are soul mates." Buffy said, still looking into Dawn's eyes.  
  
Suddenly the light flared to bright for them to keep their eyes open, both Buffy and Dawn screwed their eyes shut.  
  
When Buffy could open her eyes again she found that Dawn was no longer had the body of a 25 year old, she one again had the body of a innocent 14 year old.  
  
"W-what?" was all Dawn could say.  
  
"Love. It can change time." came an echoing voice.  
  
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked looking round to see where the voice came from.  
  
"Your love for each other has turned back time, physically you are now what you once were." the voice answered.  
  
"Umm who are you?" Dawn asked looking round.  
  
"This is the voice of the Powers That Be." the voice answered.  
  
"You're kidding." exclaimed Buffy.  
  
"No." the voice said, "You have saved existence more times than any other beings in creation."  
  
"Yes so?" Buffy asked.  
  
"It has bee decided that you are both to be imbued with additional powers to help in your fight against the forces of darkness." the voice told them.  
  
"What about the rest of the angels?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Most cannot be regenerated." the voice said, "Those that you have helped will be restored to full health."  
  
"And the rest?" Dawn asked.  
  
"They will be remembered." the voice said, it held a twinge of sadness.  
  
"And us?" Dawn asked looking at her sister.  
  
"You can do what you want, when you are together you can do anything." the voice said as it faded away.  
  
"Anything?" Dawn whispered.  
  
"Anything." Buffy confirmed.  
  
"I love you." Dawn said looking deep into her sister's eyes.  
  
"And I you." Buffy replied.  
  
The End (for now) 


End file.
